Educators in India to attend a training workshop on preventing antisemitism

As part of its activities to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, UNESCO New Delhi organised a workshop in India to promote education to address antisemitism on 10 February 2022.

The workshop was the first to take place in the region, and invited over 500 teachers and school directors from across the country. It was organised in partnership with the German and Israeli Embassies in India and the Central Board of Secondary Education of India.

Key experts on antisemitism from Yad Vashem, Bergen Belsen Memorial and University College London shared knowledge and strategies to address antisemitism in schools and classrooms. Experts from India shared the latest research about the status of Holocaust education in the country, and strategies to address the issue of antisemitism that will resonate with local audiences.

It contributes to UNESCO’s ongoing efforts to counter the rise of Holocaust denial and distortion, through informed education about the Holocaust and the promotion of teaching strategies and pedagogies to counter misinformation and conspiracy theories.

The event forms part of a series of national and sub-regional capacity building workshops that UNESCO organised in 2021 in partnership with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Southeast Europe, North Macedonia, and Central Asia, South Caucasus and the Russian Federation.

In a joint op-ed with Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel to India, and Walter J Lindner, Ambassador of Germany to India, published on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Eric Falt, Director of UNESCO New Delhi said, “To prevent Indian youth from disseminating harmful antisemitic rhetoric and other forms of hate speech, both online and offline, we must educate them about the Holocaust and antisemitism today to deepen reflection about contemporary issues that affect societies around the world.”

UNESCO New Delhi additionally organised an event to raise awareness of the history of the Holocaust with school children in India on 27 January 2022.