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29 Jan, 2012

UN Marks Holocaust Day; Criticises Israeli Demolition of Palestinian Homes

The following five Press Releases were published back to back by the UN News Centre last week. Well worth thinking about. (Click on each link to go to the story)

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Jan 23: New Online Tool Featuring Video Testimonies Of Holocaust Survivors Debuts At UN

New York, Jan 23 2012  2:05PM — Students everywhere will have the opportunity to learn more about the Holocaust thanks to a new online educational resource that debuted at United Nations Headquarters today and showcases video testimonies of survivors of one of the world’s greatest tragedies.

IWitness – produced by the Shoah Foundation Institute at the University of Southern California – provides teachers and students access to the video testimonies of more than 1,000 Holocaust eyewitnesses from the Institute’s archive of nearly 52,000 testimonies.

“As students learn more about the Holocaust and the significance of this history today, they will soon discover its connection to their own lives and communities,” said Kiyo Akasaka, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

The UN partnered with the Shoah Foundation Institute in bringing more than 350 high school students to the world body’s Headquarters to discuss their experiences with IWitness and to interview Holocaust survivor Roman Kent, whose testimony they have studied as part of IWitness.

“Our collaboration with the Shoah Foundation Institute is another wonderful example of how the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme works with organizations around the world to help young people – like yourselves – understand the history and horrors of one of the world’s greatest tragedies that occurred many, many years ago before you were born,” Mr. Akasaka told participants at the event.

“With the IWitness online application, students everywhere can search, watch and learn about the real life stories of more than 1,000 Holocaust survivors,” he said. “You will also learn about the dangers of hatred and prejudice in our world today.”

The Shoah Foundation Institute was established by United States filmmaker Steven Spielberg in 1994 to collect and preserve the testimonies of the survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. It maintains one of the largest video digital libraries in the world – nearly 52,000 video testimonies in 32 languages and from 56 countries.

“Through IWitness, survivors will continue to teach students about the Holocaust, inspire them to oppose intolerance, and empower them to develop the literacies needed for the 21st century,” said Stephen D. Smith, the Institute’s Executive Director. “We are grateful to the nearly 52,000 witnesses who have entrusted their memories to the Institute as a guiding light for all humanity.”

Today’s programme was held as part of a series of events to mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, which is observed annually on 27 January. This year’s theme is “Children and the Holocaust.”

In a related development, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced that Samuel Pisar, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor and acclaimed international lawyer, author and human rights activist, will be designated as an Honorary Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Education.

Mr. Pisar will receive the designation at a ceremony on Friday at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris.

Jan 25: Raising Awareness Of Holocaust Essential To Prevent Acts Of Hatred – UN Official

New York, Jan 25 2012  6:05PM — Widespread education through the media, special events and other initiatives that provide information on the history and lessons of the Holocaust is essential to help prevent future genocides and mass atrocities, a top United Nations official said today at an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy in Ukraine.

“Some one-and-a-half million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Ukraine,” said Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka. “They were just the first mass victims of the shocking and sustained murder that the world would come to know as the Holocaust.”

Mr. Akasaka stressed the need to keep the memory of the victims alive, and highlighted the work of the UN in doing so. “The UN Department of Public Information actively engages Member States, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society – and our own network of UN information centres around the world – to raise awareness about the Holocaust and the dangers of hatred,” he said.

Today’s event was held as part of a series of events to mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, which is observed annually on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

This year’s theme is “Children and the Holocaust” and film screenings, exhibits and talks sharing children’s stories during that era are being shared to spread awareness of their experiences.

“It is only by understanding and learning from the past, that we can hope to create a better world for the children of today and tomorrow,” said Mr. Akasaka, who also spoke at the opening of an exhibition of Jewish photographers in the Lodz Ghetto between 1940 and 1944.

The exhibition presents some 50 images – many of them available for the first time to the public – that document daily life in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland, which functioned as an industrial centre for Nazi Germany, exploiting a Jewish workforce.

“The images reflect the contradictions and complexities between the desperate situation in the ghetto and the efforts of its people to maintain their dignity and survive for as long as possible,” said Mr. Akasaka.

Jan 26: New UN Report Shows Sharp Rise In Palestinians Uprooted By Israeli Demolitions

New York, Jan 26 2012  1:05PM — Almost 1,100 Palestinians, over half of them children, were displaced due to home demolitions in the West Bank by Israeli forces in 2011 – over 80 per cent more than in the previous year – according to a United Nations report released today. (Download the report here).

“Demolitions and Forced Displacement in the Occupied West Bank,” prepared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), adds that an additional 4,200 people were affected by the demolition of structures related to their livelihoods.

The report states that Israeli forces destroyed 622 structures owned by Palestinians including homes, animal shelters, classrooms and mosques – a 42 per cent increase compared to 2010.

In addition, over 60 per cent of the Palestinian-owned structures demolished in 2011 were located in areas allocated to Israeli settlements.

The report adds that that 90 per cent of the demolitions and 92 per cent of the displacement occurred in already vulnerable farming and herding communities in the territory known as “Area C” – which represents over 60 per cent of the West Bank where Israel retains control over security, planning and building.

Meanwhile, the report states that there was a “significant” decrease compared to previous years, with 42 structures demolished. However, at least 93,100 residents who live in structures built without a permit, remain at risk of displacement.

“The forced displacement of Palestinian families and the destruction of civilian homes and other property by Israeli forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have a serious humanitarian impact,” the report points out, adding that the impact on families’ psychosocial well-being can be “devastating.”

It adds that Israel, as the occupying power in the West Bank, has the obligation to protect Palestinian civilians and to administer the territory for their benefit.

During a visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory last May, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and head of OCHA, Valerie Amos, urged Israel to end its evictions policy and to look carefully at the key humanitarian concerns of demolitions and displacement in the West Bank.

Jan 27: UN Honours Memory Of Children Who Perished In The Holocaust

New York, Jan 27 2012  1:05PM — The United Nations today honoured the memory of the more than 1.5 million boys and girls who perished in the Holocaust, with top officials stressing the need to speak out against intolerance and to protect the lives and human rights of children around the world.

“We will never know what these children might have contributed to our world. And among the survivors, many were too shattered to tell their stories. Today, we seek to give voice to those accounts,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message for the seventh annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

“That is why the United Nations continues to teach the universal lessons of the Holocaust,” he said. “It is why we strive to promote children’s rights and aspirations – every day and everywhere…

“Today, as we remember all those lost during the Holocaust – young and old alike – I call on all nations to protect the most vulnerable, regardless of race, colour, gender or religious beliefs.”

The UN held a ceremony at its New York Headquarters today to mark the International Day, which is observed annually on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. The event marked the culmination of a series of events held this week, focusing on the theme “Children and the Holocaust,” that included film screenings, exhibits and talks, sharing children’s stories during that era and spreading awareness of their experiences.

“Without doubt, the best tribute to the memory of the children who perished in the Holocaust – and to those who survived – is to keep teaching its universal lessons,” Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, said at the ceremony.

This, he added, is the most important objective of the UN Department of Public Information’s Holocaust and the UN Outreach Programme, which organized this week’s events.

“Today, the United Nations remembers these children and pledges to continue to work to ensure the protection of the lives and human rights of children around the world,” said Mr. Akasaka.

Noting the presence of survivors and their families at the ceremony, General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser said “the presence of each of you here today tells us that every human being has a sacred duty to speak out in the face of injustice and intolerance, regardless of any colour, religion or ethnicity.”

He called for honouring all the victims by taking preventive action so that hatred, injustice, discrimination, inhumanity, ethnic cleansing and mass killings have no chance to occur anywhere to anyone.

The Holocaust, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, serves as a reminder of the perils of discrimination and intolerance, of how powerful the incitement to racial hatred can be, and of the importance of intervening early to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.

She also stressed the importance of ‘learning from the past’ so that young people today are aware of historical events and can understand the impact of their words and attitudes towards those who are different from them.

“Hateful words can translate into hateful actions and the consequences can be dire. Children and young people must be taught their history, including the terrible mistakes of the past, so that they can be vigilant against all manifestations of hatred from the outset,” she said in a statement.

Jan 27: Senior UN Humanitarian Official Urges End To West Bank Home Demolitions

New York, Jan 27 2012  3:05PM – A senior United Nations official has called for an immediate end to Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, as he witnessed first hand the suffering and destruction caused by this ongoing practice.

“Israel, as the occupying Power, has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being,” stated Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory and Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

“The wholesale destruction of their homes and livelihoods is not consistent with that responsibility or humanitarian ideals,” he said.

Mr. Gaylard visited the Anata village on the outskirts of Jerusalem yesterday where he saw the ruins of seven Palestinian homes demolished earlier in the week and met with representatives of the displaced families.

Bulldozers and troops had arrived in the middle of the night of 23 January, he was told, and that 52 people, including 29 children, had been forced from their homes, which were then destroyed.

The visit by Mr. Gaylard came on the same day that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a new report showing that almost 1,100 Palestinians, over half of them children, were displaced due to home demolitions in the West Bank by Israeli forces in 2011 – over 80 per cent more than in the previous year.

The report, entitled “Demolitions and Forced Displacement in the Occupied West Bank,” added that an additional 4,200 people were affected by the demolition of structures related to their livelihoods.

Mr. Gaylard noted that these figures represent a dramatic increase compared with previous years, and that a much greater number, in the tens of thousands, remain under threat of dispossession, demolition and displacement.

“The current policy and practice of demolitions cause extensive human suffering and should end,” he stated. “Palestinians urgently require ready access to a fair and non-discriminatory planning and zoning system that meets their needs for growth and development.”

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