The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA 

Faced with the spreading of extremist ideologies, fundamentalists and with radical criteria proliferating in the world, raising levels of violence and discrimination against minority groups, and the growing number of mortal victims, refugees and displaced persons resulting from armed conflicts, expose the growing signs Of alarm of the eventual commission of genocides that we see daily in the mass media, affecting millions of people, summoning the international community in immediate actions to curb these atrocious crimes.

With the aim of generating spaces for reflection to remember the historical truth of the Holocaust as a paradigm of genocide, the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace with the support of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights gathered authorities from different sectors of Costa Rica on February 12 of 2015 in the Chamber of Sessions of the Court, to commemorate the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, and to make known the testimony of the survivors of this genocide.

The Judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Juan Manuel Ventura Robles, welcomed the special guests, highlighting the commitment of this institution with respect for life and dignity of the human being:

«The Inter-American Court of Human Rights pays tribute to the procedural truth and the correlative right to memory. To procedural truth, such as clarification of what happened and budget to administer justice; and to memory, participating in the commemorative acts of genocidal barbarism, as the one that today summons us; for, in association with the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace and in compliance with the directives drawn up by the United Nations, to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust or the Shoah, a genocide in which, in a systematic and premeditated way, they were murdered more than six (6) million Jews, not counting the remaining victims, as political opponents, homosexuals, Gypsies Romans, Jehovah's Witnesses, physically limited and mentally ill.».

In his speech, the World Ambassador and Activist for Peace, Dr. William Soto, expressed his concern for the development of current conflicts in the world that denote similarities with stages prior to the Holocaust commission:

«At the time of the Holocaust perpetration the Jews were marked with a Star of David, for that time a sign of discrimination and death. Today extremists in Syria and Iraq are marking Christian homes with the letter "N" or letter "Nun" of the Arabic alphabet, initial letter of the derogatory term "Nazarene"; which translates into a death sentence if they do not flee or convert to Islam. Is not this a genocide against Christians and against the members of other religions in the XXI century, before the passivity of the world? ... »

In the course of his speech, Dr. Soto pointed out a very important reflection for the citizens of today:

«Some people say that if they had lived in the Holocaust era, they would have spoken or sympathized with the victims. However, if today you are a spectator of the violence that the world lives, there in the past would also have been. If today you are proactive, there would have been. That is why the mandatory question of the irrationality, discrimination and extreme violence evidenced by the newspapers is: What are you doing? ... »

The presence of the Deputy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eduardo Trejos Lalli, Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Dr. José Manuel Arroyo, President of the Constitutional Chamber, Gilbert Armijo Sancho, the diplomatic corps accredited in Costa Rica, among other personalities, and civil society, demonstrated once again the commitment for peace and the defense of the fundamental rights the Costa Rican authorities have.

Holocaust survivor, Mr. Salomon Fachler, reiterated through his testimony the truth of historical documents, and honored the memory of the victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Nazi regime. Fachler was 5 years old when he began the persecution of the Jews by the Nazi regime and lost his father, two of his brothers and most of his family.

Dr. José Manuel Arroyo, Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica, urged those present to be alert to any act of discrimination or abuse of power that can be seen today:

«We have to be alert in our days on any initiative of law that promotes the discrimination, the conception of enemy to all that is different from the majorities; warnings against all strategies of irrational or disproportionate criminal punishment, alerts to the installation or reinstatement to the death penalty or flagrant violations of due process».

The Delegate to the Superior Court of Bogotá, Colombia, Dr. Camilo Montoya Reyes, who was invited to take part in this event, said during his participation that there are many reasons why the Holocaust should be taught and interested in the whole world:

«The reason the Holocaust is of interest to humanity is not only because it is the paradigm of the genocidal act. The Holocaust is of interest to the whole world, among other reasons, because it is one of the most harmful international crimes. The damage of the Holocaust is due, among other reasons, to the considerable number of innocent victims; and of the fact that the extermination of the Jewish people was assumed to be a state policy».

In this enclosure the plaques of the survivors of the Holocaust were put on display, Salomón Fachler and Frida Goldberg; and at the end of the event the participants were guided through a photographic gallery that shows, through images, why the Holocaust is the paradigm of the genocidal act.

(See other events in Costa Rica)