Though nations around the world may and do choose to honor their own national versions of Holocaust remembrance on different days throughout the year—Yom HaShoah in Israel being a prominent example—the United Nations General Assembly has officially designated January 27 as International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, often shortened to International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The day was chosen in 2005 to honor the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, which was liberated by Soviet forces in 1945 and ratified via United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United Nations will urge each member state represented by the entity to honor the six million Jewish people who perished in the Holocaust, as well as the other ethnic minorities and those affected by various mental, intellectual, or developmental disabilities who also perished during the Holocaust.

The United Nations also believes its member states have an ongoing collective responsibility to help those facing residual trauma, promote legislation and policies that prevent future genocides from occurring, and preserve historical sites, including the concentration camps and other sites related to the Holocaust. Furthermore, Resolution 60/7 rejects denial of the Holocaust and condemns all forms of religious intolerance or other violence based on ethnicity or religious belief.

It is also a day dedicated to promoting Holocaust education and ongoing Holocaust-related research throughout the member states of the world. In 2010, the United Nations started going a step further and adding a theme to each annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The themes will vary from year to year but highlight various aspects of the Holocaust and human rights as a whole. At its headquarters in New York, as well as at satellite offices around the globe, the United Nations will observe this day with various ceremonies and activities.

Israel’s representative to the United Nations at the time the resolution was passed stated his personal belief that such a day is “imperative for the sanctity of life and for the preservation of humanity” for the lessons of the Holocaust to be taught to future generations. Meanwhile, the Korean delegate to the United Nations at the time expressed that learning Holocaust history should not be left to one’s choice but enforcing an obligation.

The Brazilian representative at the time agreed with this sentiment, expressing that there had not been legal recourse or a definition of genocide in earlier eras of history, as the Hague Treaties contained no definition or legal recourse for genocide. Thus, the lessons of the Holocaust could afford the world a starting point for defining genocide, which has gone so far as to be incorporated into the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Other representatives, such as those from Indonesia, the Balkans, Guatemala, and central Africa, supported the concept of Holocaust remembrance but also urged the United Nations and the world to shine the spotlight on other tragedies throughout the world as well.

The United Nations delegate from Ukraine interestingly commented that while the Holocaust was undeniably painful for the Jewish people and all the world, as many Ukrainian Jews were swept up in the horrors of this era in history, it seems the world has not entirely learned the true meaning of “never again,” as evidenced by subsequent atrocities in such places as Cambodia, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Srebrenica, and Darfur. Thus, he expressed his honest opinion that the lessons of the Holocaust need to be taught all the more so that atrocities are not continually repeated due to ignorance of history.

As the delegate from Argentina mentioned, the Holocaust is not merely a historical event that occurred in a vacuum of unique political circumstances that could never occur again anywhere on the planet; no country is immune from the potential effects of economic, religious, racial, or political intolerance spiraling into further unspeakable actions.

The Egyptian delegate to the United Nations supported the resolution that recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Day. However, he raised concerns about the resolution’s failure to acknowledge the racial motivations that may have led to the Holocaust. He also questioned why atrocities against Christians and Muslims in places such as Srebrenica and Kosovo are not recognized with the same fervor as the Holocaust of the Third Reich against the Jewish people and other minorities, despite the occurrence of suffering and genocide against people of various ethnicities. The Egyptian delegate proposed programs that ensure all those affected by genocide in the world are recognized and remembered, regardless of their religion or ethnicity.

Ultimately, the goal of the United Nations establishing International Holocaust Remembrance Day is to go beyond merely remembering the Holocaust, but learning and actively applying the lessons the Holocaust provides to prevent further genocides, atrocities, and human rights violations all around the world going forward.