SG/SM/8253
 4 June 2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS MEMORIAL TO UKRAINIAN JEWS KILLED IN 1941 AT BABI YAR; VOWS ALL HIS POWER ‘TO FIGHT THE HATRED AND EVIL THAT SO DISFIGURE OUR WORLD’

NEW YORK, 3 June (UN Headquarters) -- Following are the remarks of Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 3 June at the monument to Ukrainian Jews killed in 1941 at Babi Yar:

I wanted to visit Babi Yar to express my solidarity with the victims of the anti-Semitism and intolerance, and as a sign of my resolve to do everything in my power to fight the hatred and evil that so disfigure our world.

The unspeakable acts of murder permitted here half a century ago will always remind us of man’s capacity for evil.

In the last few months, attacks on synagogues in a number of European countries have happened. These attacks should trouble people everywhere who are concerned about human rights and human dignity.

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