This Monday, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was commemorated, a significant date that marks the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by the Red Army in 1945, ending one of the darkest tragedies in human history. In this context, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, emphasized the importance of keeping alive the memory of those horrors that resulted in the death of six million Jews, as well as numerous Roma, Sinti, people with disabilities, political dissidents, and members of the LGBTQI+ community.
Guterres made an urgent call to remember the roots of hatred that led to the Holocaust, emphasizing that antisemitism has millennia-old roots that still manifest through various forms of marginalization and violence. “Remembering the Holocaust is not just a moral act, but a call to action to understand how the Nazis could perpetrate such atrocities with the complicity of others,” said the UN leader.
The Secretary-General also referred to the recent hope generated by the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, reached 15 months after the outbreak of the conflict on October 7, 2023. Guterres emphasized that this agreement offers much-needed relief amid a confrontation that has left thousands dead, both Israelis and Palestinians. “This agreement offers hope and, more importantly, much-needed relief,” he reiterated.
However, Guterres warned about the increasing danger of the current world, where hatred and discrimination seem to be on the rise. He called for combating these negative forces through education and the promotion of truth, as well as condemning antisemitism and all forms of racism that are emerging today. “These evils wither our morality, corrode our compassion, and try to blind us to suffering,” he emphasized.
With a clear message, the Secretary-General urged countries to renew their commitment to dignity and human rights. He reminded that, after the Holocaust, the international community came together to establish the United Nations, laying a vision that every person has inherent value. This spirit of unity is now, more than ever, essential to face the challenges that hatred and intolerance pose in the contemporary world.
Source: MiMub in Spanish