Dear Colleagues,
The European Shoah Legacy Institute is very pleased to announce that European Commission Vice-President - Mr. Frans Timmermans – announced on October 1st at the first Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights the appointment of two coordinators to address the main challenges currently faced by the Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe: one coordinator will be responsible for addressing anti-Semitism and the other for addressing Islamophobia.
It is our task now to encourage the coordinator on anti-Semitism to dedicate efforts to cooperating with EU institutions to monitor and advocate for the implementation of the Terezin Declaration, with the ultimate aim of combatting anti-Semitism in close cooperation with civil society and national Special Envoys for post-Holocaust Issues, according to the existing commitments under relevant European Commission and European Parliament resolutions.
ESLI hopes that the newly appointed coordinator for anti-Semitism will re-energise the pursuit of increased financial support for civil society organisations providing care to Holocaust survivors and other victims of Nazi persecution, the restitution and/or compensation of Nazi-looted cultural heritage, and the promotion of Holocaust education, research, and remembrance.
The European Shoah Legacy Institute strongly believes that civil society organisations must embrace their role as key partners of the European Commission endeavour to combat anti-Semitism and other hate crimes within the European Union and to continue preserving the legacy of Shoah. To this end, we look forward to working cooperatively with the European Commission in the near future to develop a robust and all-encompassing strategy to effectively combat anti-Semitism and continue analysing the post-Holocaust restorative justice and its impact on non-discrimination and tolerance in Europe as well as prevention of future genocides