New York, 29 January. On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, took part today in the commemorative ceremony and reading of the names of the Jews deported from Italy and territories under Italian occupation. The ceremony was organized by the Consulate General of Italy, together with Centro Primo Levi, the Italian Cultural Institute, Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò at NYU, the Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies and the Italian Academy at Columbia University. Speaking at the ceremony were also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Alison Smale and the Italian Consul General Francesco Genuardi, who hosted the event.
“Today – Ambassador Cardi recalled – Foreign Minister Alfano is chairing the Rome Conference on the Responsibility of States, Institutions and of Individuals in the Fight against Antisemitism in the OSCE Area: one of the initiatives Italy has decided to launch as it takes on the Chairmanship of the Organization for 2018, confirming the priority our Country gives to the protection of human rights. It is an objective that guides our action bilaterally and in every multilateral forum we take part in. We intend to uphold this commitment at the United Nations, in continuity with what we have done last year in the Security Council, putting our focus on the concept of responsibility.”
The OSCE Chairperson in Office, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano, appointed Professor Salvatore Martinez as his Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination. Among the priority issues for the Italian Chairmanship in Office of the OSCE are human trafficking and the protection of victims, especially women and children. On these issues Italy promoted a resolution that was unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council in November 2017.
