CAM Congratulates IHRA for German Presidency Successes

On April 1st, the yearly chairmanship of IHRA (the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) will be handed over from Germany to Greece. CAM would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Chair and Ambassador Michaela Küchler, IHRA President, on her excellent work combating anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination and hatred over the last year. 

We were honored to receive Ambassador Küchler at two of our virtual events. At The IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism: Eleven Examples, Eleven Stories, Küchler warned that anti-Semitism had arrived in the mainstream of all our societies. At the CAM Annual Summit, Ambassador Küchler equally provided inspiring words on growing awareness of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.

In response to the demands of the pandemic, Ambassador Küchler swiftly digitalized commemoration ceremonies. In addition, the IHRA Plenary Sessions were for the first time held in a digital format.

In October, after years of efforts, the 34 Member Countries of IHRA adopted a working definition of antigypsyism/anti-Roma discrimination.

Under Ambassador Küchler’s leadership, a new global social media campaign was launched in partnership with the European Commission, the United Nations, and UNESCO: Protect The Facts. The campaign brought attention to and fought against Holocaust distortion with shareable graphics and an interactive website. Protect The Facts came about as a result of the January report “Recognizing and Countering Holocaust Distortion” published by IHRA.

In February, IHRA was formally recognized as an international institution by the Federal Republic of Germany. This was a crucial step forward in the promotion of IHRA’s mandate.

Overall, in the last year the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism has become the globally-accepted definition across a variety of institutions at the local, national, and international level.

CAM offers congratulations to IHRA for the successes of the past year and looks forward to the work of the Greek delegation.