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Human Rights Comment
Why remembering the Holocaust is a human rights imperative
The Shoah stands out as one of the defining moments of history that has shaped the conscience of mankind. It is unique in its roots, implementation and envisioned totality. During my mandate as Commissioner for Human Rights, I have attended a number of ceremonies of commemoration of the victims...
Human Rights Comment
Human rights defenders’ work is vital for redress to victims of enforced disappearance
Last March I published an Issue Paper on Missing persons and victims of enforced disappearance in Europe, aiming to help Council of Europe member states improve their law and practice. Much remains to be done, considering that thousands of cases of missing persons and enforced disappearance...
Human Rights Comment
Time to cure amnesia about the history of Roma in Europe
In a few days, we will commemorate the liquidation 71 years ago of the so-called “Gypsy family camp” at Auschwitz-Birkenau. On 2 August 1944, 2 897 persons were taken to the gas chambers and exterminated. Only a few months earlier, on 16 May 1944, the detainees of the “Gypsy camp” had refused to...
Human Rights Comment
Armenian-Turkish Reconnections and Human Rights
History continues to divide Armenian and Turkish officialdom, but there are many civil society, cultural and academic initiatives aiming to reconnect the two societies. April 24 marks the centennial of the beginning of the mass killings, deportations and dispossession of Armenians in the Ottoman...
Human Rights Comment
Missing persons in Europe: the truth is yet to be told
Tens of thousands of persons remain missing and still haunt Europe decades after the demise of dictatorships and the end of armed conflicts. For example, Spain has yet to come to terms with its past and shed light on the fate of more than 150 000 persons who remain missing as a result of the...
Human Rights Comment
Justice and reconciliation long overdue in the Balkans
More than 20 years after the first war in connection with the dissolution of Yugoslavia the legacy of the violence still lingers across the region. 12 200 persons are still missing, 423 000 refugees and displaced persons still cannot return to their homes, about 20 000 persons remain stateless or...
Human Rights Comment
Internally displaced persons in Europe: Another lost generation?
The media have frequently raised the prospect of a “lost generation” appearing in Europe as a result of the economic crisis. However, a different kind of “lost generation” has been struggling to cope in many European countries as the result of past military-political crises. I have in mind...
Human Rights Comment
Only genuine justice can ensure durable peace in the Balkans
European institutions failed to protect people in the former Yugoslavia from ethnic cleansing and other war atrocities in the 1990s. The return to normalcy has been slow and major obstacles still remain. However, there are now grounds for some hope – which gives Europe a second chance to offer...
Human Rights Comment
Countries of the former Yugoslavia need to step up their efforts to resolve cases of missing persons
The presidents of Serbia and Croatia have met on several occasions recently and the issue of missing persons has been high on their agenda. It has been reported that the president of Serbia, Mr Boris Tadic, brought with him important documents to the latest meeting concerning persons who have...
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Human Rights Comment
Reconciliation Stalled in the Western Balkans
In March 2012 I travelled to Sarajevo with my predecessor for the launch of an Issue Paper on post-war justice and durable peace in the former Yugoslavia, followed by vivid discussions with political leaders and civil society representatives in Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade and Ljubljana. This...
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