Human Rights: A Fundamental Topic in the Forum "Educating to Remember" at UMECIT University of Panama
As a form of prevention and dissemination, and to effectively educate future generations about the importance of human rights and universal principles, the Metropolitan University of Education, Science and Technology (UMECIT) gathered over 250 students for the series of university forums currently being carried out in Panama, "Educating to Remember - The Holocaust: Paradigm of Genocide", to introduce this initiative of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace.
The Vice Rector of the University’s Research and Extension Center, Dr. Emilio Pérez Techachal, emphasized the importance of going in depth as to the subject of the Holocaust and its teachings about human rights as part of the educational and professional accreditation of the University, thereby training better professionals in different areas of society to be builders of a better country.
After the screening of a documentary about the Holocaust to raise awareness about the genocide, Dr. Jiesselinde Gonzalez, Coordinator of the United Nations Information Center in Panama, participated in the event with a speech on the topic: "Women and the Holocaust". She expressed: "They were great heroines in the midst of so much disaster. Their spiritual strength and values defied the Nazis, their determination to save people who were not family, acting on their compassion, willpower and beliefs, they were able to save the little that remained, and thus become an example of courage and resistance."
She also said: "If human beings understood and internalized the Declaration of Human Rights... if these were respected, more well known nowadays, many atrocities would not occur, not at the same level as the Holocaust; instead, many crises and genocides that have been caused by this could have been avoided.
The Holocaust was a flagrant violation of the rights of man, a display of human misery and of mankind’s ability to cause harm. That is why the world's top universities are preparing their students in ethics, values, and principles, emphasizing on educating and creating outreach programs, such as the one stated in Resolution 60/7 of the United Nations, a resolution that establishes in member countries an annual day of Holocaust remembrance, and calls on them to develop educational programs to prevent such acts from happening again."
Holocaust survivor and historian Dr. Jaime Segal gave a presentation on “The Final Solution", setting a historical scene especially emphasized on the organized system of mass destruction in World War II.
At the end of the event, the commemorative plaque of Mr. Simon Burstein and his family, who are also Holocaust survivors residing in
