“We share a commitment to throw light on the still obscured shadows of the Holocaust.”
-- Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust
IHRA Diplomatic Briefing
16.09.2016
On 14 September the second IHRA diplomatic briefing took place in Bucharest, marking the half-way point in the Romanian IHRA Chairmanship.
The meeting with the diplomatic corps accredited to Bucharest was an opportunity to present IHRA’s achievements from the first six months of the Romanian Chairmanship.
The IHRA Chair, Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu, briefed the diplomatic representatives of IHRA Member and Observer Countries about the progress since the IHRA Plenary in May 2016. He highlighted the impact that chairing this organization had had on encouraging national and local authorities in Romania to uphold the principles of the Stockholm Declaration. Examples of educational activities related to the Holocaust and to preventing and fighting prejudice, antisemitism, racism and xenophobia highlighted the importance of ensuring that the IHRA remains active. Among the current challenges on the IHRA's agenda are the problem of the endangered memorial sites and reports about cases of distortion of the Holocaust history.
Image gallery: Second IHRA Diplomatic Briefing in Bucharest
Click on one of the images to view the gallery (5 images).The IHRA Chair also mentioned the good cooperation between IHRA and other fora, such as ODIHR/OSCE and commended the initiative of the German Chairmanship of the OSCE to propose that the organization adopted a working definition of antisemitism, based on the working definition adopted by the IHRA in May 2016.
The IHRA Chair informed the diplomatic corps about the preparations for the next IHRA Plenary meeting which would be held in Iasi from 7 - 10 of November 2016 and his next country visits, including to Kiyv to attend the ceremonies that would commemorate 75 years since the Babi Iar tragedy.
The diplomatic representatives from IHRA Member and Observer Countries also visited an exhibition giving an overview of the events related to education and remembrance which had taken palce in Romania during the IHRA Chairmanship so far.
Details about the activities of the Romanian IHRA Chairmanship can be found at http://www.mae.ro/en/node/36618.