Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Address of President Xhaferi on 2020 Balkans forum against anti-Semitism
Distinguished President of the Albanian Parliament, Mr. Ruci,
Distinguished Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, Mr. Rama,
Distinguished President of the European Parliament, Mr. Sasoli,
Distinguished Secretary of State of the United States of America, Mr. Majk Pompeo,
Distinguished President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Mr. Bečić,
Distinguished President of the Parliament of Kosovo, Ms. Osmani,
Distinguished Senator Rosen,
Distinguished Mr. Taulant Bala,
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentleman, attendees at this special virtual conference for the Balkans, focused on the fight against Semitism, I am pleased to be able to greet you in this manner and to wish you above all good health during this global threat for the health of each person.
The human, with all virtues and flaws, is the most perfect being who knows, can and most of the time reasonably uses the blessings of life. Nevertheless, there are moments, unfortunately sometimes extended periods, when common sense remains a silent witness to inhumanity, when inhuman treatment of other living beings prevails. We have seen a lot, and we are still seeing and apparently still learning how to prevent the recurrence of the horrors of the Holocaust, the genocide, discrimination and unequal treatment of people. Learning about the Holocaust is not just a matter of simply remembering the facts; learning about the Holocaust is understanding better the consequences of prejudice, racial intolerance, antisemitism and stereotypes in every society. It also helps to raise awareness of the value of existence and respect for diversity in a pluralistic society, as well as respect and understanding for the specifics of all ethnic communities. Precisely because of these facts, the Republic of North Macedonia invests a lot in the development of Holocaust education, by clarifying the deviant and discriminatory phenomena in today's context, in order to fight against all kinds of hatred and intolerance.
The Republic of North Macedonia, following the efforts for integration of our country in the European and world family and guided by the strategy for equality of people, the fight against stereotypes and prejudices, accepted and adopted the documents dedicated to the Holocaust, and has worked dedicatedly in the past years on the promotion of this topic in all fields. In March 2018, the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia adopted the Declaration on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the deportation of Jews from Macedonia, and, with that, the working definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for Combating Antisemitism (IHRA).
Holocaust education is one of the key things that a person should acquire from the earliest years in order to raise his/her own awareness and the awareness in the whole society on creating values of respect for the differences between people, as well as to build a humane and an equal society. In this context, the Republic of North Macedonia encourages all activities related to Holocaust education, and in that framework, the Ministry of Education and Science, within the Institute for Spiritual and Cultural Heritage of Albanians, opened a Holocaust Education and Research Department which provides a comprehensive study on the Holocaust, on the possibility of the use and abuse of power, as well as the role and responsibility of individuals, organizations and nations in cases of human rights violations. It also contributes to raising awareness of the possibilities of genocide in the modern world. The Holocaust Education Department is actually the first of its kind in the country and in the region, which gives us pride and satisfaction. In addition to the trainings for teachers and educators, conducted in cooperation with Yad Vashem from Israel, the Department is preparing the Holocaust Education Strategy in the Republic of North Macedonia with the contribution of experts, educators and renowned world institutions that address this topic.
It is particularly noteworthy to mention the role of the Republic of North Macedonia in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an organization that awarded our country in 2019 with a recognition for the great efforts it has made in all fields, especially in the field of education, raising its status from an observer state to an associate member state of the IHRA, a status which is only one step behind the acquisition of full membership. At the IHRA Conference in Luxembourg, the state undertook to translate the Recommendations for Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust as a strategically important document. They were translated into Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish and Serbian by the Institute for Cultural and Spiritual Heritage of Albanians, to be later shared by the Institute and the experts who participated in the project.
In June 2020, co-organized by our country – the Ministry of Education and Science and Yad Vashem, an Educational Webinar was held for the first time for the victims and heroes of the Holocaust. I can not but mention our activity in publishing, where many memoirs of our citizens were translated and made available for the education system in order to familiarize the young generations with the real life tragedies that occurred precisely because of closing our eyes to antisemitism, and analogous to every kind of genocide, human rights violations, discrimination, hate speech, xenophobia, racism. In addition, the Collection of Documents "Basic Antisemitic Legislation of the Kingdom of Bulgaria" by the respected authors Skender Asani, Nora Maliqi and Vlado Popovski was promoted, which is a good basis for explaining the Jewish question in the Balkans.
Another particularity of our Assembly is that in its composition of 120 MPs, we have a member of the Jewish community, Rasela Mizrahi, who can contribute a lot in promoting the issue of the fight against antisemitism.
Dear colleagues, I wish you successful work on the Forum. Of course, even the smallest contribution aimed at eradicating this evil is a contribution to building a more humane and more equal societies.
Thank you for your attention!