Source: United Nations (video statements)
Highlights:
– Holocaust
– Antisemitism
– Syria
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Iraq
– Niger
– South Sudan
– Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Chile
– Multidimensional Vulnerability Index
– Honour Roll
– Secretary-General/Press Conference
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HOLOCAUST
This morning, the Secretary-General attended the annual ceremony in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. In remarks delivered he said that he grieved for the Jews, the Roma and Sinti, the people with disabilities, LGBTQI+people, and so many more who were enslaved, persecuted, tortured, and killed.
He said that the Holocaust is not only history. It is a warning. A warning that hatred, once unleashed, can consume everything.
Today, Mr. Guterres said, that warning feels much more urgent than ever. Antisemitism around the world is raging. Jewish communities live in fear. Synagogues attacked. Families shattered. Vile antisemitic hatred racing across cyberspace.
He recalled that the Holocaust did not begin with killing. It began with words. Its architects telegraphed their evil intentions.
The Secretary-General said that they deliberately spread a hateful, supremacist ideology that preyed on fear and economic despair.
He urged all to act against such hatred, saying that when those with power fail to act, evil goes unpunished. When the past is distorted, denied and weaponized, hatred and prejudice fester.
The Secretary-General said that it is also our duty to keep alive the spirit of acting in common purpose, through multilateralism, to ensure that the forces of humanity always triumph over the forces of inhumanity.
ANTISEMITISM
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), today published a study which collects data from 2,030 educators across the European Union, seeking to examine their knowledge and understanding of what antisemitism refers to and explore their preparedness to address antisemitism when they encounter it. Worryingly, just over three-quarters of the teachers, that is more than 77 per cent, had encountered at least one incident of antisemitism between students at least once or twice.
Over a quarter of teachers had witnessed nine or more of these incidents. Overall, on average, teachers had encountered five or six antisemitic incidents between students at their school.
The report adds that the most prevalent challenges that teachers encountered were students demonstrating antisemitic attitudes, tropes and conspiracy theories read on the internet or in the media, and that being exposed to this sort of content in the family environment.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-01-27