CONFERENCE AGAINST DENIALS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
armradio.am
24.09.2009 17:16
The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD),
in association with the Centre Communautaire Laic Juif (Jewish Laic
Community Centre) and IBUKA Memoire & Justice (Ibuka Memory and Justice
Association), will hold a conference entitled Denial and Democracy
in Europe on October 6, 2009 in the European Parliament, Brussels.
The conference will be held under the aegis of Mr Elmar Brok (Christian
Democrat, Germany), in light of the adoption of the Framework Decision
against Racism and Xenophobia by the European Council in December 2008.
Article 1 of the Framework Decision prohibits genocide denial in the
EU. It is now a requirement that EU Member States incorporate the
provisions of this Framework Decision into their national legislations
by 2010.
The conference will be an occasion for political leaders, historians,
experts, human rights workers, philosophers and others to exchange
their views and their concerns regarding the state of genocide denial
in Europe.
Specifically, the speakers will explore critical questions for Europe
arising from increased genocide denial within the EU as well as the
potential benefits or drawbacks of the Framework Decision.
The increase in genocide denial is evidenced by comments such as those
of the president of Iran regarding the Holocaust. More recently,
the Republic of Turkey has incorporate d provisions into a recent
agreement with the Republic of Armenia that call for the establishment
of a committee of experts to revisit and review the actuality of the
Armenian Genocide.
Among others, the experts to take the floor on October 6 include Mr
Ralph Giordano, a Jewish journalist and essayist who survived to the
Nazi regime, Professor Yves Ternon, one of the main French historian
specialized on the 20th century genocides, Professor Mihran Dabag,
founder and director of Institute for Diaspora and Genocide Studies in
Bochum (Germany) or Mr Marcel Kabanda, the chairperson of Ibuka France