Situations generated in the midst of armed conflicts generally have a profound and serious impact on the against human rights. In 2005 the United Nations (UN) made a pause to remember the tragedy experienced by the Jewish people during World War II. On January 27 of that year, on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, this date was decreed as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

This commemoration reaffirms the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. which establishes that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction as to race, sex, religion or any other condition. Among these untouchable guarantees are the right to life, liberty, security, freedom of thought, freedom of conscience and religion.

Punishment of the crime of Genocide

The establishment of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is also commemorated on this date. Whose origins began with the concept formulated by Raphael Lemkinwho, in addition to having presented it for the first time at the international conference of jurists in Madrid in 1933, later became a victim of the Second World War.

Lemkin coined the term "Genocide" in his book: "Axis rule in occupied Europe", published in the United States in 1944. Raphael Lemkin managed to include the crime of genocide in the indictment of the Nuremberg trials in 1945, a process in which he was an advisor. In addition to devoting much of his life in the approval of the treaty to prevent the occurrence of these crimes that considerably injure the conscience of humanity and in which States are urged to develop educational programs to promote the lessons left by this fact, only with the intention of preventing acts of genocide in the future.

The obligation of this date as part of historical memory makes imperative the categorical rejection of the partial or total negation of the serious crimes against humanity. And condemns any kind of manifestation of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities of any ethnic origin or under any religious belief or political tendency.

Disclosure of the Holocaust

The Holocaust Outreach Program makes vital links between the underlying causes of genocide. The lessons to be preserved from the Holocaust and the protection of human rights in today's society. In this regard, it has also established relationships with civil society, educators and governments around the world to prepare and disseminate educational materials on the subject.

Sources

• Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on November 1, 2005.
• United Nations Holocaust Outreach Program
• "Totally Unofficial. Autobiography of Raphael Lemkin. Editorial Berg Institute. Madrid 2018.