© UNESCO/S. Cadel
Director-General of UNESCO Ms Irina Bokova in front of the Wall of Names at the Shoah Memorial in Paris, 27 January 2012

UNESCO launches the first ever consultation for member states on Holocaust education. High-level representatives of ministries of education will discuss the question of why teaching about the history of genocide. Their reflections will be based on the example of the Holocaust. The meeting will explore the methods and aims of education about the Holocaust and other genocides. Participants will be invited to consider how to design and introduce such educational programmes in their respective countries.
Senior delegates of 12 different countries will participate in the consultation. They will have the opportunity to discuss subjects related to the history of the Holocaust and to the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities with Holocaust and genocide scholars and educators from various countries. Among the experts attending are David Silberklang, senior historian at Yad Vashem in Israel, Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, Georges Bensoussan historian at the Shoah Memorial in Paris and François Masabo, professor of at the National University of Rwanda. The delegates will also have meetings with representatives of the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation, a unique institution in Africa, and visit the Cape Town Holocaust Centre. UNESCO will be represented by staff from headquarters, BREDA and Kinshasa Office.