Last month, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution, put forth by Israel and Germany, to “reject and condemn without and reservation any denial of The Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part.” 

The resolution urges member states and social media platforms to “take active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial or distortion.” 

The resolution was approved by consensus without a vote. However, Israel “disassociated” itself from the resolution. 

The resolution highlights that remembrance “is a key component to the prevention of further acts of genocide.” 

The resolution commends member states which have preserved “Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labour camps, killing sites and prisons during the Holocaust.” 

The UN also urges member states to “develop programs to educate future generations and urges social media companies to take active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial or distortion.” 

The UN General Assembly outlined that Holocaust denial and distortion is defined as;

(1) “Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the Holocaust or its principal elements, including collaborators and allies of Nazi Germany.”

(2) “Gross minimization of the number of the victims of the Holocaust in contradiction to reliable sources.”

(3) ”Attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide.”

(4) “Statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event.”

(5) “Attempts to blur the responsibility for the establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi Germany by blaming other nations or ethnic groups.”

Social Media reform

The UN resolution also targeted social media platforms. Israel’s ambassador to the UN and grandson of a holocaust victim, Gilad Erdan, stated that social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, are spreading the “pandemic of distortions and lies” about the Holocaust.

“Social media giants can no longer remain complacent to the hate spread on their platforms” and must take action now, Gildan continued. 

In 2019, Facebook signed an agreement with the World Jewish Congress (WJC) to redirect users searching for information about the Holocaust to this website by the WJC. 

Earlier this month, 63 Tamil Canadian organizations put forth a campaign to protect Bill 104, the Tamil Genocide Education Week Act. The act urges Ontarians to educate themselves about the Tamil genocide and other genocides throughout history. The Tamil organizations created a campaign combatting Tamil Genocide denial and distortion and fights against the constitutional challenges Bill 104 is currently facing. 

Read more here.