From attacks on Jewish people, businesses and places of worship and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, anti-semitism one of the world’s oldest hatreds is seeing a worrying resurgence.
In an event on 26 September at the UN General Assembly hosted by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, with an opening speech from António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Freedom of Religion and Belief Lord Tariq Ahmad reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to education and dialogue to combat the scourge of anti-semitism in all its forms.
The Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Freedom of Religion and Belief Lord Tariq Ahmad said:
I’m proud to reaffirm Britain’s commitment to combatting the scourge of anti-semitism.
Even today, the truth about the Holocaust is distorted and sometimes denied.
So it is fitting that this event should fall a week after Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and a day of reflection and atonement.
As global leaders we must act responsibly to ensure future generations reflect on the lessons from the Holocaust and recognise our shared humanity.
Seven decades after the Holocaust, society still cannot say that anti-semitism has been eradicated; nor can it claim that genocide is a thing of the past. As recently as last month, the United Nations concluded that the Burmese military had inflicted genocide against the Rohingya.
The UK government is committed to religious tolerance in the UK and globally. Through the government backed Holocaust Educational Trust and their world-leading Lessons from Auschwitz programme 36,000 students have visited Auschwitz – and then supported this next generation to share their learning with fellow students and to fight antisemitism and all forms of hatred in every community of the land.
The British government is determined that the genocide of six million Jews will never be forgotten. A spectacular and poignant Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, will be erected right next to Parliament, reminding all of us of the depths to which humanity can sink, and the importance of robustly opposing all forms of bigotry.
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