WJC @ UNHRC46: The necessity of education to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship

Geneva – On behalf of the World Jewish Congress, WJC Jewish Diplomat Corps Member Ira Rosensaft (Germany) delivered a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council on 18 March urging the Council to prevent radicalization with education and promote understanding, tolerance and friendship. 

“The World Jewish Congress, the representative body of Jewish communities in 100 countries, is convinced that the education of our children and the guarantee of human rights for the next generation are a key to the development and well-being of nations and an essential condition for lasting friendship and peace in the Middle East.  

“As Article 26/2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “education shall be directed… to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations.” 

“Regrettably, not all resources are directed to set the course for this just purpose.”  

“Recently distributed UNRWA materials for distant learning for Palestinian pupils yet again intended to promote hate, to glorify terrorism, and to encourage violence against Jews and Israelis. More than 300,000 children were supposed to learn how to defend their motherland with blood and to learn arithmetic by counting the martyrs of the first intifada. Although eventually removed, this methodology is an indicator for the toxic environment being promoted in the Palestinian education system. Raising children to hate is neither beneficial for the development of human personality nor does it instill respect for human rights, as stipulated in the Convention for the Rights of the Child.”  

“The World Jewish Congress calls on this Council to prevent the radicalization through education and to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship, thus enabling peaceful coexistence of nations of the region.” 

The WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps is the flagship program of the World Jewish Congress, under the vision and leadership of WJC President Ronald S. Lauder. Members of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps have delivered over 90 statements on behalf of the WJC at the UN Human Rights Council over the past six years.