Remarks by Yoriko Yasukawa, UNFPA Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, to mark the UN International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, 27 January 2016
In the year 2005, the General Assembly of the United Nations resolved to designate the 27th of January as the International Day of Commemoration of the Holocaust.
In adopting this resolution, the Member States sought on the one hand to commemorate those millions of Jewish people and those of other ethnicities and religious convictions, as well as LGBT people, who lost their lives to hatred and intolerance.
On the other hand, the General Assembly wished for the commemoration of this tragedy to help all the nations and citizens of the world to build better societies. Societies that would understand and act on the basis of that simple and profound truth articulated so clearly in Article I on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
What the Holocaust teaches us is precisely the terrible consequences of turning our backs on this truth. It reminds us what can happen when we decide that certain groups of people who are different from us are simply not persons and therefore do not deserve to be treated as such.
It is important in this sense that the Declaration appeals to the reason and conscience within us and not to our good sentiments. The wise people from diverse nations who drafted the Declaration understood that ‘brotherhood,’ which implies the recognition of the rights and the dignity of the other, and respect for differences, involves a rigorous effort of reasoning and demand on oneself to do the right thing.
It is easy to be kind when we like someone, when there are no differences in convictions or interests. The Member States of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments, and designated a day for the commemoration of the Holocaust, precisely because it is so difficult to respect one another and treat one another decently when there are differences that separate us – differences that may be real or perceived, including those created, shaped and amplified by those who would seek to divide and discriminate.
The world has progressed gradually, with the principle of equality of rights increasingly permeating societies around the world. Acts of intolerance and hatred are more widely seen to be unacceptable. Still, there is a long way to go, as we can so clearly see on a daily basis in the world around us. We human beings continue to reject those who are different from us or claim interests that are in opposition to our own, causing the death and unspeakable suffering of millions of people. The Holocaust was not, as recent history has demonstrated, the last time we saw genocide or ethnic cleansing.
And even when we do not actively use violence against another, we continue to accept with indifference that millions of people in the world live without the basic conditions for a life of minimal dignity.
Our region – Asia and the Pacific – is the most wondrously diverse in the world – with so many different ethnic groups, cultures, religions and livelihoods coexisting within and across borders. The region boasts many inspiring examples of societies embracing great cultural, ethnic and religious diversity while harnessing the creative energy derived from that diversity to promote social and economic development.
Yet there are also too many distressing examples of great numbers of people being denied their rights -- to life, to a home, to a livelihood, to identity, to a nationality, to health, to education, to sexual and reproductive choice – simply because of who they are.
In some societies, women and girls – half of the population – are denied their full humanity and rights because of their sex. This is one of the reasons why an estimated 84,000 women and girls are allowed to die each year in Asia and the Pacific, largely because of preventable causes related to pregnancy and birth.
So let us then use this day to reflect on the lessons of the Holocaust. Let us come together to reject the fear and hatred and indifference that makes us deny the dignity and rights of those who are different from us. Let us instill in ourselves and in one another the courage to embrace diversity and to stand up for the rights of others.
And let us call on our political, social and religious leaders to be the first to take up this cause.
