SG/SM/10197
GA/10414
2 November 2005

Secretary-General Welcomes Designation of International Day for Holocaust Commemoration

NEW YORK, 1 November (UN Headquarters) -- The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General welcomes today's decision by the General Assembly to designate 27 January as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.  He sees this annual commemoration as an important reminder of the universal lessons of the Holocaust, a unique evil which cannot simply be consigned to the past and forgotten.  He also looks forward to taking the measures which the Assembly has requested from him, to establish a programme of outreach on the subject of "the Holocaust and the United Nations" and to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education, in order to help prevent future acts of genocide.

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