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UNESCO Round-Table: How to Respond to Antisemitism

Paris — Despite efforts undertaken for years to reduce violence against Jewish communities, antisemitism remains a serious threat.

Director General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova and the President of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Mr Mihnea Constantinescu, will open a roundtable entitled “How to Respond to Antisemitism through Education, Culture and Communication?”, on 6 December (2:30pm-5:00pm, Room XI), in the presence of Mr Robert Badinter former Minister of Justice and President of the Constitutional Court of France who will deliver a keynote address.

The overall goal of the meeting will be to identify the nature of this violence, present thought and paths for action to Member States to strengthen their policies to fight intolerance and discrimination, as well as consider policies that could prevent antisemitism especially among young people.

The roundtable will focus on a number of issues, including: What are the contemporary indicators of antisemitism? Should there be specific responses to antisemitism distinct from policies targeting other forms of intolerance? Are measures already being implemented to respond to antisemitism effective?

The meeting will bring together Steven Katz, Adviser to the IHRA and Professor of Jewish and Holocaust Studies at the Boston University (USA), Dina Porat, professor at the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University (Israel), Jean-Yves Camus, Associate Researcher at the French Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), Katharina von Schnurbein, European Union Coordinator on Combatting Antisemitism, Dervis Hizarci, Chair of the Kreuzberger Initiative gegen Antisemitismus, and Cristina M. Finch, Head of the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.