UNESCO trains educators across the globe to address violent pasts and prevent genocide

Advancing global efforts to strengthen Holocaust and genocide education, UNESCO and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) organized the International Program on Holocaust and Genocide Education (IPHGE) workshop on 12-18 February 2023 in Washington. D.C.

The workshop, a core event of a long-standing collaboration between UNESCO and USHMM, brought together 37 education stakeholders from 11 countries (Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Greece, India, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Serbia and UAE).

In five days, educators, civil society leaders, academics, and ministry officials learnt how to build on the critical lessons of the Holocaust to reflect on their own countries’ violent pasts. This work culminated in the development of practical solutions to prevent violence and genocide through education. Each country team commits to implement these projects as their next steps with a strong focus on specific national needs.

In her opening address to the workshop participants, Ms Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant-Director General for Education, spoke of “dedication and courage” that are needed to “confront violent histories and to address racism, hate speech and antisemitism”. She also highlighted the universal importance of the Holocaust and genocide education for strengthening human rights and promoting the culture of peace.

“We are all one human family”

Since its inception in 2015, the International Program has been UNESCO’s flagship project on Holocaust and Genocide education. Previous editions gave rise to educational initiatives in 16 countries that collectively reached more than 4,600 learners and educators. Their results show that understanding of the interplay between the history of the Holocaust and a country’s own violent past, as well as of the warnings signs of genocide, can be beneficial both for conflict transformation and prevention.  

“Learning from the past, honouring victims and survivors, and using the power of education to break the cycle of violence in the present will help raise awareness about the consequences of polarization, hate speech, discrimination, and other dynamics that may lead to atrocity crimes and other violations of human rights”, says Karel Fracapane, UNESCO Programme Specialist for Global Citizenship and Peace Education.

Al Munzer, Holocaust survivor, urged the workshop participants as he shared his testimony: “My hope for you is: Let us remember we are all one human family.”

What are the results of the workshop?

Many of the 11 participating country teams work closely with national authorities to introduce Holocaust and genocide education in national contexts for the first time. To refine their projects, international experts helped the participants to navigate through diverse resources on Holocaust history and discover ways to improve education policy and pedagogy. The group also visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture to reflect on the importance of facing national violent pasts.   

Ms Roseli Alves, Civil Public Servant, Ministry of Education, Brazil, said: “In our context, we urgently have to face structural racism and historical injustice. […] I believe in the power of the education system, which must be activated so that our curricula, our teachers, our students, our managers and our actions are based on multiculturalism, mutual respect, equity, quality and fairness for all”.

“Having gone through many steps in the recovery from our own difficult past, genocide against the tutsi, many people still tend to think that we are the only ones who suffered,” added Debby Karemera, Program Officer at Never Again Rwanda. “One of the ways to prevent mass atrocities from reoccurring is through education.”

In the past years, the workshop engaged education stakeholders from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Their completed projects included new curricula, teaching materials, exhibitions and public events that sparked a steadily growing interest in the Holocaust and genocide studies.

The International Program on Holocaust and Genocide Education is funded by the Government of Canada. It is part of UNESCO’s global programme on education about the Holocaust and violent pasts and contributes to the Organization’s efforts to promote Global Citizenship Education. In this respect, UNESCO seeks to empower learners to become critical thinkers and responsible and active global citizens who value human dignity and respect for all, reject antisemitism, racism and other forms of prejudice that can lead to violence and genocide.

• More on UNESCO’s work on education about the Holocaust and genocide