28/01/2026 Equality and Non-Discrimination
On the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of the Holocaust, Francesco Verducci (Italy, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance, made the following statement:
“Today – and always – we must reaffirm the universal value of memory, both as a warning and as a lesson for civic responsibility, and of human dignity as an inalienable right.
It is our duty to reaffirm the inseparable link between the memory of the Shoah and our democracy; between the memory of the abomination of fascism and Nazism and the construction of a Europe built on rights.
In the 1920s, antisemitism paved the way for fascism and Nazism. This warning is more relevant today than ever. We have a duty to recognise and to confront antisemitism in all its forms. We must also understand that the strongest way to eradicate antisemitism is to combat every form of discrimination and incitement to hatred, every attack on a minority.
The words of Primo Levi have universal value: ‘What happened can happen again. Consciences can once more be seduced and obscured.’
‘Never again’ cannot be an empty phrase. We have a duty of memory, as an antidote to the poison of fear, resentment, domination and oppression, and as the foundation that holds together a society of free people.”