Ahead of the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on 2 August, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, delivered the following video message to the international conference “My testimony is for young people - Passing on Memory for the Future of Holocaust Remembrance and Education”, organised by the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Roma and Sinti at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of 2 August 1944:
“It is my great honour to participate in these events commemorating the Holocaust, the genocide of European Roma and Sinti.
I first became aware in detail of the genocide when I visited the museum in Heidelberg some 10 years ago.
There, through the excellent presentations, I, too late in my life, but finally, became aware of this horror, this stain on European history.
500,000 people murdered in an attempt to wipe out an entire people.
Never again.
It is so important to deliver on Never Again that we remember.
We must never allow the stories to die.
And the challenge of remembering is all the greater today as those who survived these horrors themselves pass away.
We need new ways to remember, new ways to commemorate, new ways to make sure that our children know what happened and with that sense of Never Again.
Of course, it's not just about remembering.
It is also about recognizing the reality of today, the reality of shocking and unacceptable and, frankly, rising levels of antigypsyism, of patterns of hatred, discrimination, harassment perpetrated against the members of Roma, Sinti, and Traveller communities.
In other words, we are living in a context in which terrible things can happen again.
Now, as a dimension of our pushback, it's vital to work in support of respect for the human rights of every member of the Roma, Sinti and Travellers communities, wherever they are.
I pledge, as recently appointed Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, to do all that I can, as one of my top priorities, to tackle antigypsyism and to stand up for the human rights of the Roma, Sinti and Travellers communities.
One last thing, my pledge is to work with Roma, Sinti and Travellers communities, not for them, but to work in partnership, supporting you, working with you so that we together can deliver that better world in which we are all treated equally with respect in our great diversity.
Thank you”