A/HRC/28/36
59.
Armenia referred to the Armenian Genocide Museum and Monument. It stated that
the aim of the Museum, which opened in 1995, was to document all materials related to the
Armenian genocide.
60.
France spoke of activities undertaken in the context of the seventieth anniversary of
the Normandy and Provence landings and of the liberation of Paris, and of the start of a
four-year cycle to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. It was also
stressed that France, in 2007, had inaugurated the Museum of the History of Migration to
recognize the important role that migration had played in the development of the country.
61.
In Italy, activities commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War
took the form of a census of all monuments that had been erected between 1917 and 1940,
the number of which stood at approximately 6,000 so far, with the objective of maintaining
and restoring them so as to perpetuate collective memory.
62.
South Africa highlighted the positive effect that the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission and truth seeking activities had had on the country’s understanding of the past
and especially on lessening the burden for an easier future. The delegation also mentioned
that a monument had been built next to the remnants of Old Fort prison.
63.
Turkey referred to events that had occurred in 1915 and indicated that it had offered
in 2005 the establishment of a joint historic commission.
64.
Brazil referred to its National Commission on Victims of Enforced Disappearances,
created in 1995, the National Commission on Amnesty, created in 2002, and the National
Truth Commission of 2012, which was soon to publish its report.
65.
In Argentina, a number of initiatives by the Government included the conversion of
former detention centres into memorial sites and museums, as well as the creation, in 2006,
of the Federal Network of Memorial Sites, which carried out national, provincial and local
memorialization and investigation policies with the National Memory Archives.
66.
Romania stated that it was currently re-evaluating its own history, 25 years after the
fall of the dictatorial regime. It added that, although controversies had arisen, the reevaluation had made it possible to discuss freely facts that had been previously unknown to
generations of citizens. Monuments had been erected to honour the memory of the victims
of totalitarian regimes. Finally, the history of the Holocaust and that of national minorities
were now taught in public schools.
67.
Israel recalled that major conferences in the 1990s and 2000s on the Holocaust had
contributed to firmly establishing reparation as an integral part of the international agenda.
The Israeli delegation further stressed that Holocaust denial had been made illegal in some
countries and that Holocaust education had been instituted in many schools in order to
ensure that, despite the efforts of deniers, people would learn lessons of the past and have a
better understanding of contemporary challenges.
68.
In Rwanda, new history textbooks and a new curriculum had been developed based
on scientific research. Politically motivated distortions had been eliminated. The Rwandan
delegation also referred to the creation of a national commission to preserve and protect the
memory of genocide; broad and regular education programmes on history and memory,
adapted for all categories of the population; and regular commemorations of the genocide
and preservation of genocide memorial sites across the country.
69.
Japan delivered a statement in response to a presentation made by another
delegation, in which it stated that, since the war, it had been consistent in its efforts to build
a free, democratic nation that respects human rights and the rule of law.
13
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