Statement of the Director-General of UNESCO on the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust (27 January 2026).

Each year on 27 January, UNESCO joins the international community in honouring the memory of the six million women, men, and children who were murdered because they were born Jewish—as well as the memory of all victims of Nazi barbarity. This Day is a moment for universal reflection, because in the deliberate will to erase entire peoples, the dignity of all of humanity was mutilated.This year's theme, ‘Holocaust Remembrance for Human Dignity and Human Rights’, refers to remembrance as a universal moral imperative. For the Holocaust was made possible above all by the collapse of human rights—when the law no longer protected, but instead singled out, excluded, and discriminated. Imagined at the very heart of the Second World War, UNESCO is the only United Nations agency responsible for promoting Holocaust education worldwide and combatting anti-Semitism and hate speech.Concretely, our Organization works to equip teachers with the pedagogical tools needed to teach about violent pasts. Last September, UNESCO organized training and remembrance workshops for educators from twelve countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America at Auschwitz-Birkenau. We also work to preserve both the documentary heritage of the Holocaust through our Memory of the World register, and the sites of memory.But this duty of remembrance is part of a broader responsibility: to stand up against all forms of hate speech, which are spreading at an alarming rate. This resurgence has been accelerated by new communication and information technologies, as well as by artificial intelligence.In partnership with the European Commission and the OSCE, UNESCO is leading an international programme to train teachers in deconstructing hate speech. This commitment extends across the world: following the Bondi attack in Australia, a new partnership agreement was signed with the Government to train teachers and educational staff.The memory of the Holocaust is not a fixed legacy; it requires constant vigilance against the harm born of the hatred of the other. In keeping with its founding mission, UNESCO will continue to uphold this responsibility in the service of all people and of peace.

Mr Khaled El-Enany, Director-General of UNESCO