Duque will adopt the OAS definition of antisemitism

On previous occasions, the Organization of American States invited all Caribbean governments to adopt this definition, on which the International Alliance for the Remembrance of the Holocaust (IHRA)

Duque will adopt the OAS definition of antisemitism. Photo: Colprensa – Mariano Vimos

The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, will sign a declaration on anti-Semitism on June 2 in the company of Luis AlmagroSecretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). The organization has previously expressed its rejection of xenophobic acts and has invited other governments, as the president will do, to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA for its acronym in English). ).

The IHRA brings together governments and experts to “strengthen, advance and promote Holocaust education, memory and research around the world.” According to their official website, this is the definition they have worked on and which is not legally binding:

“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews that can be expressed as hatred of the Jews. Physical and rhetorical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed at Jewish or non-Jewish persons and/or their property, at the institutions of Jewish communities and at their places of worship.”

It is important to remember that on June 7, 2019, Almagro adopted this definition taking into account the principles of the OAS and the work they have done to promote respect and acceptance throughout the region. This in order to “strengthen the OAS’s efforts to counteract anti-Semitism and xenophobia,” Almagro said in a press release at the time.

In fact, in October 2020 Almagro proposed at the 50th OAS General Assembly to carry out a joint campaign so that all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean follow the path of Canada, the United States, Argentina and Uruguay and adopt the practical definition of anti-Semitism of the IHRA.

For the OAS, the definition exposed above is the “first and only international standard to identify when an act is anti-Semitic”. With this, the organization can act in prevention, education, memory and eventually punishment of these events, “avoiding legislative loopholes and thus providing greater legal protection to the Jewish citizens of the Americas,” added Almagro.

For their part, doctors Shimon Samuels and Ariel Gelblung explained that America is a continent that is home to Jewish communities, but which also gave refuge to Nazi criminals and their accomplices. Considering that, “it should be considered as a privilege and an obligation to join the Alliance in a timely manner. Nothing should prevent the adoption of this definition, as a concrete means to protect its citizens”, they pointed out in a statement.

On May 26, 2016, the 31 member countries of the IHRA adopted the working, legally non-binding definition of anti-Semitism

You can interesting: The OAS and the Latin American Jewish Congress joined forces in the fight against terrorism

During the event ‘Prevention of violent extremism and Terrorism: Emerging Trends and Issues in Recruitment, Propaganda, and Radicalization’, the OAS met with the Latin American Jewish Congress (CJL) to discuss the fight against terrorism.

In Almagro also referred to the damage caused by anti-Semitism on the continent: “Anti-Semitism causes great harm to humanity, and it also has the potential to nurture violent extremist ideologies by generating a spiral of hatred and spread distorted interpretations of reality that only deepen discrimination and intolerance among others ros evils.”