January 27 is designated by the United Nations General Assembly as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in 1945.

On this solemn occasion, we remember and honor the innocent victims of the Holocaust, six million Jewish children, women and men, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti and others who were murdered in cold blood, in the name of the despicably inhuman Nazi racial ideology.

We also pay heartfelt tribute to the survivors of the Holocaust and salute the thousands who battled the perpetrators.

The moral duty of the international community remains and must remain to never forget this horrific atrocity and to be vigilant in combatting Antisemitism and Holocaust denial, as well as all forms of hatred and discrimination, wherever and whenever they occur.

Cyprus is indelibly linked with the aftermath of the Holocaust, as more than 50,000 survivors were interned on our island between 1946 and 1949. Cyprus gained observer status in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, in 2021, and has been implementing relevant policies at national level. These include adopting the IHRA definition for Antisemitism and the IHRA definition of Holocaust denial.

By uniting our voice in proclaiming ‘Never Again’ and by preserving the memory of the Holocaust, Cyprus reaffirms its commitment to international efforts to prevent the recurrence of such heinous crimes.