GENEVA — On February 17, 2022, the World Jewish Congress participated in the tenth-anniversary meeting of the Istanbul Process, the result of a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in which states and other stakeholders share best practices in addressing discrimination and intolerance based on religion or belief.
This year’s meeting was organized by the Mission of Pakistan to the UN in Geneva.
The WJC took the floor at the gathering to stress the urgent need to fight antisemitism and Holocaust distortion, promote education and interfaith dialogue, and counter intolerance.
“The topics discussed today are crucial for the Jewish community, as historically Jews have been the primary targets of hate, discrimination, exclusion and stereotyping. Regrettably, antisemitism is on the rise today, mixed with conspiracy myths and propelled by social media,” said Elizaveta Zaidman, WJC International Relations Officer.
Zaidman urged the gathered governments to fight antisemitism by using educational materials developed by UNESCO, and to review the material taught in schools in order to remove mentions that discriminate, stereotype or contain false information about other religious groups, including Jews. She drew listeners’ attention to the recent successful effort by the WJC and UNESCO to combat Holocaust ignorance and distortion by integrating an educational website, www.aboutholocaust.org, into social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Prior Istanbul Process meetings have taken place in Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Netherlands. The Human Rights Council resolution that created the process, 16/18, also mandates that the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights publish an annual report, titled “Combating Intolerance, Negative Stereotyping and Stigmatization of, and Discrimination, Incitement to Violence and Violence Against, Persons Based on Religion or Belief” (A/HRC/49/86), which was released prior to the meeting.
The World Jewish Congress contributed a lengthy submission about its work on the issues, which has been extensively quoted in the report.
