Students participate in dialogue regarding Resolution 60/7 Holocaust Remembrance

Through the Program Educating to Remember, the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace (GEAP) in Mexico, gave a lecture to raise awareness at the General Martyrs of 1907 High School regarding Resolution 60/7 adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 1, 2015.

Various Rio Blanco, Veracruz personalities attended the event; among them, the President of the  Integral Family Development (DIF) System, Reina Martínez; the fifth regidor, Felipe Ventura; and Austreberta Aguilar, Director of Culture.

Also present was Sergio Gutiérrez, Deputy President of the Mexican Confederation of Civil Organizations Defending Human Rights (COMODDH); Maritza González, Principal of the Martyrs School of 1907; and activists Arlette Morales, Jorge Villalba, Alejandro Estradas and Eliezer Lavoinet, Regional Coordinator.

Students reflected on Resolution 60/7 Holocaust Remembrance, where at one point it states:

"... Urges Member States to develop educational programs that will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the Holocaust in order to help prevent future acts of genocide, and in this context, commends the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research" -United Nations General Assembly.

A contribution to society

Maritza Gonzalez provided a welcome greeting, who during the ceremony stated:

«I am grateful to the GEAP for having chosen our institution to carry out this commemoration, and for which I ask our students to respect and provide their undivided attention to what our friends will share.»

Reina Martínez, representing the mayor of the City Council, stated that this event that the GEAP carries out is a very important contribution to society as it offers training for young people on the subject of universal values and human rights.

Then, the Peace Activists participated with exhibitions, beginning with Arlette Morales, who invited the students to learn more about the history and to remember this historical event, in order to prevent humanity’s further suffering..

Sergio Gutiérrez focused his presentation topic on principles, values, and education; he mentioned:

«To all the young people, education is very important; and even more so, an education like the one proposed by the Embassy, ​​based on values ​​and principles that will form professionals with integrity and moral quality.».

Tell the story

Historian Jorge Villalva, spoke of the before, during and after of the Holocaust. He stated that the Holocaust did not happen overnight, but was organized and systematically provoked, in the first opportunity, by a dictator, who from a young age, read books that taught him about racial differences.

On his behalf, Alejandro Estrada spoke about citizens rights, he mentioned:

«Many of us at one point have said: "I have my rights," when we feel that an authority or person wants to force us to do something. But, do we really know our rights? Do we respect others?»

Estrada also said that the work through the Program, Educating to Remember of the GEAP keeps the testimony of the survivors alive, it allows his generation to know the historical truth, and that the Holocaust is a reminder of what must never be repeated.

Upon concluding the presentation, more than 700 students, together with their teachers, parents and authorities from Rio Blanco, visited a Photo Gallery that showed some of the events that occurred during World War II.

The GEAP held this event to prevent future acts of genocide, reminding the world of the lessons learned from the Holocaust.