AHLC and other reports

Rome, 15 March 2018

THE SECRETARY-GENERALREMARKS AT MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE

ON SUPPORT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY

FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank Egypt, Jordan and Sweden for co-chairing this gathering.

I also welcome the high-level presence of the League of Arab States, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and the European Union.

I would like to start by recalling a memorable encounter I had last year with students at an UNRWA school in Gaza.

We all know the pressures that Palestinians in Gaza face -- the poverty and power shortages, the closures and restrictions, the periodic violence and fear that yet another conflict could erupt at any moment. Yet in that place of uncertainty, the young people with whom I met were composed in talking about their situation. They spoke with passion about their commitment to democracy and their thirst for human rights. They shared with me their desire to make a difference in the world. In that place where hope is eroded daily, these students held on to their aspirations for the future. If only, I thought, the world could do more to respond to their plight, and more to translate their dreams into tangible improvements in their lives.

That is precisely what UNRWA does every day with such steadfastness, not only in Gaza but in the camps, communities and countries across the region that host Palestinian refugees. We have gathered today to fortify that mission and to uphold our responsibility as an international community to support and protect the vulnerable. We are here to help UNRWA overcome the worst financial crisis in its history. In the early days of the United Nations, the General Assembly created UN Relief and Works Agency to provide Palestine refugees with assistance, and to help them achieve their human potential.

Today, UNRWA’s mission is just as crucial as it was sixty-eight years ago. But until a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is achieved, the work of UNRWA remains vital. Vital to providing life-saving humanitarian relief and health care. Vital to building the future of Palestinian society through education. Vital to ensuring human security, rights and dignity for over five million Palestine refugees. UNRWA has a solid record of achievement. Its schools are among the best performing in the region. Its health, relief and social programmes are low-cost and high-impact. And by keeping half a million children in school and millions of people healthy and nourished, UNRWA is contributing to stability in the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon -- and has undertaken extraordinary efforts to support Palestinians who have suffered as a result of the tragedy in Syria.

UNRWA is an asset to the international community that we must protect and support. Unfortunately, today’s financial crisis places all of UNRWA’s achievements at risk. Without a collective solution, UNRWA will soon run out of money. We must not allow this to happen. I have spoken to many of you about the situation. UNRWA’s Commissioner-General has also been seeking your support. We sense a very high level of concern. Now we need high-level action to translate concern into cash.

I deeply appreciate the generosity of donors who support UNRWA, including those who have already pledged their contribution to its 2018 budget, including through multi-year agreements. We are also grateful to donors who have fast-tracked their contributions. Recognizing the urgent needs, the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund is releasing an exceptional combined rapid response grant and loan allocation of $30 million. I thank all donors to CERF who have made this possible. But we must also recognize that the financial crisis facing the Agency today is unlike those in the past. It is far more grave, and threatens to cut programmes far more savagely.

For 2018, with pledges reduced, UNRWA faces a shortfall not of millions, not even of tens of millions, but an estimated $446 million. Critical services could be reduced or eliminated entirely – from schools to sanitation, from medicine to microfinance to food security for some 1.7 million refugees in abject poverty or affected by conflict. This would have severe impacts – a cascade of problems that could push the suffering in disastrous and unpredictable directions.

So today I ask you to bridge the Agency’s shortfall for 2018 with predictable, sustained and additional funding. I also appeal to you to increase support in the years ahead to ensure schooling, health care and food assistance. Such spending is an investment with wide-ranging dividends – in the human development of the Palestinian people, in stability today and in a peaceful future in and beyond Palestine. It can also address some of the despair and other factors that lead to radicalization.

I commend UNRWA’s dedicated and highly skilled workforce -- the teachers, doctors, emergency responders and others who operate 700 schools and 140 clinics under often dire conditions. Let me also acknowledge the extraordinary solidarity of the host countries in accommodating Palestine refugees over seven decades.

As you know, I have prioritized UN reform and I appreciate the advances made by UNRWA and its current leadership. This reflects our commitment to all stakeholders, including beneficiaries in our field operations, to be effective while constantly enhancing our efficiency.

In that spirit, I appeal to all donors – each government and organization in this room today – to step forward and give UNRWA what you can. Truly, what you can.

If each of you does that, we will be able to address UNRWA’s shortfall.

More importantly, we will send a strong message to Palestine refugees that we are committed to their rights, their well-being, and meeting their daily needs.

To those who may question the expense, let me echo UNRWA’s fundraising campaign: Dignity is priceless.

As a matter of human solidarity, and as a matter of smart steps for peace, let us give UNRWA our full and generous support.

Thank you.

Statement by United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, on the targeting of Palestinian Prime Minister Hamdallah’s convoy in Gaza

Jerusalem, 13 March 2018

“I condemn the attack on the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza earlier today and wish those injured a speedy recovery. This grave incident must be promptly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Until the legitimate Palestinian Authority is fully empowered in Gaza, Hamas has the responsibility to ensure that the Government is able to carry out its work in the Strip without fear of intimidation, harassment and violence.

I commend the Prime Minister’s leadership and continuing efforts to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and achieve reconciliation. Those who inspired and perpetrated today’s attack seek to undermine these efforts and destroy the chances for peace. They must not be allowed to succeed.”

[ENDS]

بيان صادر عن المنسق الخاص للأمم المتحدة لعملية السلام في الشرق الأوسط، السيد نيكولاي ملادينوف حول استهداف موكب رئيس الوزراء الفلسطيني الحمد الله في غزة

القدس، 13 آذار 2018

"أدين الهجوم على موكب رئيس الوزراء الفلسطيني رامي الحمد الله في غزة اليوم، وأتمنى بالشفاء العاجل للمصابين. يجب إجراء تحقيق فوري في هذا الحادث الخطير وتقديم الجناة إلى العدالة.

ريثما يتم تمكين السلطة الفلسطينية الشرعية بالكامل في غزة ، تتحمل حماس مسؤولية ضمان قدرة الحكومة على القيام بعملها في القطاع دون خشية من الترهيب والمضايقة والعنف.

أثني على قيادة رئيس الوزراء وجهوده المتواصلة لمعالجة الحالة الإنسانية الأليمة في غزة وتحقيق المصالحة. إن أولئك الذين استلهموا ونفذوا هجوم اليوم يسعون إلى تقويض هذه الجهود وتدمير فرص السلام. يجب ألا يسمح لهم بالنجاح ".

]انتهى[

Readout of the Secretary-General’s meeting with H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine

The Secretary-General met today with H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine.

The Secretary-General and President Abbas agreed on the importance of moving the Middle East Peace Process forward and underlined their shared commitment to the two-state solution as the only viable option to sustainable peace.

The Secretary-General expressed his concern about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the funding shortfall of the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) programmes. He stressed the importance of continued humanitarian and development assistance to the Palestinian people from the international community.

New York, 20 February 2018

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

REMARKS AT SECURITY COUNCIL

New York, 20 February 2018

AS DELIVERED

President of the Security Council, Your Excellency Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, Permanent Representative of Kuwait,

Your Excellency, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine.

Welcome to you and your delegation,

Excellencies,

I have just returned from a visit to Kuwait.

Kuwait generously hosted a conference on the reconstruction of Iraq and helped mobilize critical resources.

The international community showed its gratitude to the Iraqi people for their courageous victory over Daesh.

The support is a vote of confidence in the government and people of Iraq.

Kuwait, Mr. President, has played a very important leadership role in this very successful meeting.

But, unfortunately, positive developments in Iraq are an exception in the region.

This context underscores the need for a political solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict which has lasted for far too long.

I am here to reiterate my full personal commitment – and the commitment of the United Nations – to supporting the parties in their efforts to achieve a two-State solution.

A solution of two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders.

A solution that addresses all final status issues on the basis of relevant United Nations resolutions, international law and mutual agreements.

There is no Plan B.

Yet, we must face today’s sad reality.

After decades of support, the global consensus for a two-State solution could be eroding.

Obstacles on the ground have the potential to create an irreversible one-state reality.

It is simply impossible to square the circle of a one-state reality with the legitimate national, historic and democratic aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians.

At the same time, conditions for Palestinians in Gaza – which has been under the control of Hamas for a decade – are dire.

Shortfalls in UNRWA funding are a matter of international concern.

The human security, rights and dignity of five million Palestine refugees are at stake.

So, too, is the stability of the region.

I appeal to the international community to step up its generous support.

Excellencies,

This is a time for dialogue, for reconciliation, for reason.

At this moment of grave consequence, I appeal for effective concerted action by all parties. It is more important than ever.

Mr. President,

Allow me to ask you to give the floor to the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, to deliver his monthly briefing to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

Thank you.

Secretary-General’s address at the Opening Ceremony of the Munich Security Conference [as delivered]

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an enormous pleasure for me to be back since last year’s session.

And if I remember well, last year, on discussing the global threats we are facing, I concentrated on, in the absence of power clear relations, on the multiplication of new conflicts and at the same time the fact old conflicts seem never to die, be it in Afghanistan, Somalia, or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And indeed, when power relations become unclear, unpredictability and impunity became the name of the game, and as my grandfather used to say, “there is no longer any respect.” And some things happen, conflict appear everywhere with devastating humanitarian consequences.

And I remember having noticed that those conflicts are becoming more and more interrelated and more and more related to a set of a new global terrorism threat to all of us.

If you look at the map from Mali to Nigeria to Libya to Somalia to Syria, Iraq at the time, to Afghanistan, Yemen, all these conflicts are interrelated, with people fighting going from one to another, people there going back to their countries of origin, and all these conflicts are clearly related to this new threat of global terrorism.

Now, we also noticed that in this context, dramatic violations of international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law were taking place, with people suffering enormously, and that it was practically impossible to guarantee accountability in relation to these terrible violations.

Now one year afterwards, I have to recognize that the situation has not improved. On the contrary, the problems I described remain. But we have two new qualitative changes that make things considerably worse.

Number one for the first time since the end of the Cold War we are now facing a nuclear threat. A threat of a nuclear conflict. And I am naturally referring to the developments in relation to nuclear weapons and long-range missiles by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: a development made in total contradiction to the will of the international community and in clear violation of several resolutions of the Security Council.

It is important to note that the unity that the Security Council has been able to demonstrate the will of the international community and has been able to put through sanctions a very meaningful pressure over North Korea, and that pressure in my opinion is absolutely essential to be maintained.

But the pressure also creates the opportunity for diplomatic engagement aiming at the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula; a denuclearization that I believe we all want to be peaceful and within the framework of a regional security framework.

It is true that in recent weeks we witness an improvement in Korean relations.

I was myself in the Olympic games of PyeongChang and it is always with emotion that we see North Koreans and South Koreans together in a competition like this one and of course that fact that the dialogue within the two Korea’s was re-established is a positive one; and especially the fact that the hotline between the military of the two countries was reestablished was an important factor to avoid misunderstandings and escalations.

But even if the relations between the two Koreas improved, let’s be clear that is not the central question we are facing. The central question remains the question of denuclearization.

And the question of denuclearization, in my opinion, requests that we all engage actively in order to be possible for, I would say, the two key stakeholders in relation to this crisis, the United States and North Korea, to be able to come together and have a meaningful discussion on these issues.

I believe United States is ready to do so and recent statements by the Vice-President demonstrate that it is absolutely essential to keep the pressure over North Korea and to convince North Korea that it is absolutely vital for them to come to the table and to be able to find a way for this denuclearization, a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula to be possible.

Obviously, there is a role for all the other countries of the so-called six party talks, obviously there is a role for the international community. It is important that we all abide by Security Council resolutions. It is important that we all participate in this need for pressure over North Korea but it is also important not to miss the opportunity of a peaceful resolution through diplomatic engagement as a military solution would be a disaster with catastrophic consequences that we cannot even be able to imagine.

The second qualitative change that, I believe, exists relates to what we are witnessing today in the broader Middle East, where I think we are facing a true Gordian knot.

We always had conflicts in the Middle East since the beginning of civilization and in the last few decades, we got used to a succession of conflicts and crisis but always with this idea, perhaps naïve, that the international community would be able to deal with each one separately or in succession.

We have witnessed the Arab-Israeli conflict and then progressively transformed into a Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

We have witnessed the civil war in Lebanon and then the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

We have witnessed the different conflicts in which Iraq got involved and the most recent developments in the country and finally with the so-called Arab Spring, we have seen the conflict in Syria, in Yemen, in Libya.

But as I said until recently we always got the impression that things were more or less under control and each of these situations could be handled separately, even if it was more and more obvious that there was an interrelation among them.

And that interrelation became even more clear when Da’esh with its operations made the Iraqi crisis and the Syrian crisis so obviously interconnected.

What I think has changed, clearly, is that today, the whole global Middle East became a mess.

It became a mess with a number of different fault lines that are completely crossing each other and interconnected: the fault line that remains between Israelis and Palestinians; the fault line that represents the memory of the Cold War, that is still there; the fault line between Sunni and Shia.

And if you look at these fault lines I described, it is clear that there is a very special position of a country like Iran that has a fault line with Saudi Arabia and its allies, a fault line with Israel and a fault line with the United States; all these things naturally making the situation extremely complex.

And more recently, I would say a Sunni-Sunni fault line, very clear in relation to the crisis of the Gulf Cooperation Council that has, I am sure, many reasons explaining it, but in which a central aspect must be the different perspectives that exist about the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the context of the region.

Now, all these different fault lines crossing each other have created a situation that is an authentic quagmire.

And if you look at the perspective of the different countries, that quagmire becomes more and more evident with the possible exception of Iraq, where, even if things could have gone tremendously wrong, if there was a civil war after the referendum in Kurdistan, the truth is that it was possible to overcome that difficulty.

And I have been in Kuwait just two days ago, and there was a very clear show of confidence by the international community in the process of stabilization in which Iraq seems to be embarking at the present moment. And let’s hope the elections will confirm the vision of a democratic, non-sectarian Iraq.

But with this exception, all the other situations are getting worse.

The Israeli – Palestinian peace process is at a dead end.

If one looks at Syria, after the hopes created by the de-escalation that has reduced the conflict in several areas of the country, the truth is that we are now seeing a reignition of that same conflict in Idlib and in eastern Ghouta, with dramatic humanitarian consequences.

We have seen the Turkish operation in Afrin.

We have seen chemical weapons again reappearing.

We see risks of fragmentation of the country.

And I remember that in the past, Israel used to look into the Syrian conflict as some kind of a distraction in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But in my recent visit to Israel, I noticed that the perception of the presence of militias very close to Iran, close to the Israeli border, and the perception of a potential arc between Teheran and Beirut allowing for the enhancement of the Hezbollah capacities, seems to be to many Israelis an existential threat.

And the events of just one week ago show how dangerous this can [be] for the situation in the Syrian context.

I would say, the worst nightmare we might be able to face, would be - and I know that both Israel and Hezbollah do not want it - but the worst nightmare would be a new war between Hezbollah and Israel, that would mean the devastation of large parts of Lebanon.

And we know that any spark can trigger it, and that we are far from being reassured that that conflict is impossible.

On the other hand, we see that in Yemen, still no chance of a political dialogue starting.

At the same time, we see that different perspectives in the Gulf Cooperation Council has not only very complex implications within the Gulf, but it has now destabilizing effects in Somalia and in other areas of the Horn of Africa, which means that all these situations seen together represent, what I said, a Gordian knot.

Obviously, we have not been idle in the United Nations.

We are actively engaged in any initiative that can relaunch a peace process that seems to be, as I said, in a dead end, in relation to Palestinians and Israelis with the deep belief that only a two-state solution can address both the interests of the Palestinian people and the Israeli people.

We are totally committed to relaunch the Geneva process, finding a political solution for Syria – the intra-Syrian dialogue in Geneva - now that in Sochi, it was possible - and I have to pay tribute to the Russian Federation on this - to fully abide by the engagements that were taken and to guarantee that Sochi was not a parallel process, but on the contrary, was reaffirming the role of Geneva, and channeling into Geneva the results of what was decided there, fully in line with Security Council resolution 2254.

We will do everything possible to reactivate, to energize the Geneva process.

At the same time, we are totally committed in supporting the stabilization in Iraq. Just to give you an example, the United Nations is involved – in Mosul – in 700 projects that employ about 10,000 people. Which means how strongly we are committed to helping Iraq regain its role in the region.

And we will do everything possible also to stimulate the possibilities of a political dialogue to take place in relation to Yemen.

And simultaneously we have been supporting the Kuwaiti mediation and the efforts of the United States of America, in order to make sure that the Gulf Cooperation Council crisis comes to an end.

But it is obvious that we are dealing in a fragmented way with the reality that is now a holistic reality and requires a common vision.

It is the common vision that is absent.

If, in relation to the Korean situation, we see the unity of the Security Council, unfortunately, that unity is completely absent in relation to the situation in the global Middle East, and particularly in relation to the situation in Syria.

Now, I believe that there is an effective risk of escalation in several of the areas of the region, and some of these forms of escalation that can have absolutely devastating consequences that it is difficult for us to even imagine.

That reason justifies in my opinion that, even if the contradictions of interest of both the global powers and the regional powers are clear, I think the threat for all of us, and the threat for them, first of all, would justify a serious effort to come together and to try to cut this Gordian knot.

There are several interesting suggestions on the table. For instance, I remember that during the Cold War – the old Cold War - the Helsinki process was an important moment to help the two groups come together and establish a platform for discussion.

When I look at the Cold War in the Gulf, I ask myself whether something similar could not be put in place, allowing for at least some form of dialogue to encourage these countries to come together and to find ways to address the very complex contradictions that they face and the very complex differences of interests that indeed exist.

The situation in the global Middle East, is in my opinion today a qualitatively different threat that we face that requires the mobilization of all our efforts, in order to be able to fully address it.

Let me say a few words about another global threat that I believe is more and more in the concerns of us all: and that is related to the cyberspace.

When one looks at today’s cyberspace, it is clear that we are witnessing, in a more or less disguised way, cyberwars between States - episodes of cyberwar between States.

The fact that is we have not yet been able to discuss whether or not the Geneva Conventions apply to cyberwar or whether or not international humanitarian law applies to cyberwar.

I think it’s high time to have a serious discussion about the international legal framework in which cyberwars take place and I think it would be essential to use what is the competence of the First Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations to do it, and to do it sooner rather than later.

But the concerns go far beyond cyberwar, the concerns relate to what is today the permanent violation of cybersecurity.

What is the multiplicity of activities – some by States, some by different actors, and even by amateurs? What are the different uses that criminal organizations and terrorist organizations are making of the web?

All of these create a level of threat that is becoming higher and higher and for which we have not yet found an adequate response.

Not only the different methods of regulation, both at State level and through international conventions do not easily apply to a situation like this, but there is even an absence of consensus in the international community about how to regulate the so-called internet of things.

I am one of those that defend that only through a multiple stakeholder approach we will be able to make progress. I believe it is necessary to bring together governments, the private sector involved in these areas, civil society, academia and research centres, in order to be able to establish at least some basic protocols to allow for the web to be an effective instrument for the good.

I don’t intend that the United Nations has a leadership role on this, but I can guarantee that the United Nations would be ready to be a platform in which different actors could come together and discuss the way forward, in order to find the adequate approaches to make sure that we are able to deal with the problem of cybersecurity… especially now that artificial intelligence that is providing enormous potential for economic development, social development and for the well-being for all of us, is also in the opinion of many an existential threat to humankind.

All this creates the need for a serious effort in which we need to all embark to be able to have in relation to the web, a proactive form - if not traditional regulation - at least the level of discipline that would be necessary and the capacity to take into account the ethical values that are necessary to make it an element of good for mankind.

Now, it is clear that all these threats are taking place in the context in which simultaneously, we feel that climate change is running faster that we are, in which we feel inequalities are growing in the world, even if the progress generated by globalization and technical development is enormous; and in which we feel that governments and other entities have been unable to properly manage the problems of human mobility of refugee and migration flows.

And all these facts combining are creating levels of mistrust between public opinions, citizens, and political establishments, and international organizations like the UN, that put into question the cohesion of societies, and also that creates doubts about globalization and multilateralism.

And this is a reason why, I believe, we need to be able to unite, we need to be able to affirm that global problems can only be addressed with global solutions and that multilateralism is today more necessary than ever.

That unity is essential if we want to combat the polarization of our societies and if we want to affirm the importance of multilateralism.

And this is also the reason why I am so committed to reform the United Nations, to make the UN more able to respond to the needs and aspirations of we, the peoples, that generated this organization.

But it is also very important that we unite ourselves, in order to make sure that the Paris Agreement is respected and with an enhanced aspiration, with an enhanced ambition, as we are all aware that even the commitments made in Paris are not sufficient in relation to climate change.

That we engage together in making globalization a fair globalization: and we have through the Agenda 2030 an important UN contribution for what could be a meaningful debate for global cohesion in relation to the global development process.

And especially, to engage ourselves to unite the decision makers, leaders all over the world, to understand that the peace and security problems that we are facing today are so serious, at the level of threat [that] is so high, that it is much better to come together than to persist in the level of divisions that we are witnessing today and still paralyze the Security Council for instance, in many of the dramatic crises that we face.

It might be naïve to think that with the level of contradiction that exists today in the world that unity is possible; but I think it is more naïve to believe that divided, we can survive facing the challenges that we are facing in today’s world.

And so my strong appeal is to overcome our differences, to overcome our contradictions and to understand that to face all the challenges that today that mankind, humankind, is facing, we absolutely need to come together.

And this is the raison d'être of the United Nations.

And this was the vision that led many visionaries in the end of the Second World War to create the United Nations.

And what I believe we need is to learn with what happened with the League of Nations to make sure that the same will not be repeated at the present times.

We need to understand that the level of threat we have demand, from all of us, a much stronger bet in the cohesion of our societies and in the unity, building a true and strong multilateralism to address the challenges of the present times.

Thank you very much.

Statement by United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, on yesterday’s trilateral meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav (Poli) Mordechai

Jerusalem, 15 February 2018

Following his joint meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav (Poli) Mordechai on 14 February, UN Special Coordinator Mladenov stated:

“I am encouraged by the trilateral meeting yesterday, in which all sides focused on the urgent need to finalize the reconstruction of physical damages from the 2014 Gaza conflict and on facilitating critical humanitarian solutions related to the electricity, water and health sectors.

All sides agreed on the need for a joint review of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) to improve its functionality, transparency and predictability.

Palestinian Prime Minister Hamdallah addressed the urgent need to lift all Israeli closures and restrictions and improve movement of people between Gaza and the West Bank. He presented ideas for a number of immediate steps to address the situation on the ground and support efforts to return the Strip under the control of the legitimate Palestinian Authority.

Among other topics, Major General Mordechai underscored the need to resolve the matter of the missing Israeli soldiers and civilians that are being held in Gaza.

The UN also presented proposals to revitalize Gaza’s economy and discussed the conditions required to ease movement and access and support Palestinian development.”

Secretary-General's remarks at opening of the 2018 Session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People [as delivered]

31 January 2018

Secretary-General's remarks at ceremony marking the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust [as delivered]