This Thursday will mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2022, and, on this day, we remember those who lost their lives during the Holocaust and in the genocides that have followed.

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day this year is 'One Day'. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has highlighted the different ways we can interpret this theme, such as: learning from past events to build a better future, where one day there will be no genocide; focusing on one day in history and learning about the events of that particular day; or remembering those whose lives were an unimaginable struggle during horrific periods of history, where people could only take one day at a time in the hope that the next day would be better.

We support Holocaust Memorial Day not only to remember the direct victims and survivors, but also to remember vital lessons from history. Hate and prejudice are not issues confined to the past. Genocides do not typically begin with mass murder. They begin with an incremental undermining of personal freedoms and the rule of law and an inexorable othering of sections of society. We have a vision for Wales to be a place where everyone is respected and diversity is celebrated. We want to drive out hatred and provide a warm welcome to all, and I want to reiterate that hate has no home in Wales.

On Thursday morning, the Wales ceremony will be broadcast on Cardiff Council's YouTube channel. The First Minister will take part in the ceremony, alongside Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke. Eva moved to Wales after the second world war and found safety and happiness here. We owe a great deal of gratitude to Eva and other survivors of the Holocaust and all genocides who spend countless hours sharing their stories in our communities. Their stories provide a stark warning of the dangers of hateful and divisive narratives and what can happen when people and communities are targeted and dehumanised, just because of who they are.

The UK ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 will be streamed online on Thursday evening, and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is inviting people across the UK to light a candle at 8 p.m. and place it in the window to remember those who lost their lives during genocide. As part of this effort to light the darkness, buildings across Wales will be lit up purple, including the Wales Millennium Centre, Castell Coch and the Senedd.

Once again, the Welsh Government has provided funding to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to support organisations across Wales with planning their commemoration events for Holocaust Memorial Day this year. In the run-up to the day, the trust has engaged with a diverse mix of organisations across Wales, including third sector organisations, businesses, places of worship, schools, student unions, museums and prisons. The trust has confirmed that some of the Welsh organisations taking part this year include the Josef Herman Art Foundation Cymru, African Community Centre Wales and the Olive Trust. Local authorities are also playing their part, making statements of commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and sponsoring exhibitions and events. It is encouraging to see the level of engagement and the eagerness to commemorate such an important occasion. It demonstrates a commitment from Wales to always remember those lost during genocide.

The Welsh Government continues to fund the Holocaust Educational Trust to run the Lessons from Auschwitz programme in Wales. The trust has adapted to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by developing a groundbreaking, interactive, digital platform to deliver its learning programme. The programme includes interactive online live sessions, led by experts in the history of the Holocaust, live survivor testimony, and also provides the opportunity to experience the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum through virtual reality technology. The programme will again be delivered digitally in 2022, with an enhanced learning platform to include digitally rendered artefacts from the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum and a new piece of virtual reality focused on the town of Oświęcim, which became known as Auschwitz when invaded by the Nazis in 1939. It will enable participants to further their understanding of the pre-war Jewish community that existed in this town as well as the devastating impact that the rise of Nazism had on the local population.

We take our responsibilities in supporting minority communities seriously because we know the loss of human potential inequality causes, as well as the risks of divided communities. Through our various action plans, we are seeking to eliminate inequalities, whether in relation to race or nationality, sexual orientation, sex or gender identity, or disability. This includes the development of the race equality action plan, amongst others, to help us meet our vision of an anti-racist Wales.

We continue to tackle hate crime where it occurs through funding the national hate crime report and support centre, the hate crime in schools project, and our community cohesion programme. Our anti-hate crime campaign, Hate Hurts Wales, aims to portray the devastating effect of hate crime, but also encourage people to report it and get support.

The most recent hate crime statistics, published in October 2021, showed a 16 per cent rise in recorded hate crimes in Wales when compared to the previous year. I want to encourage victims of hate and witnesses to come forward and report these incidents to the police or to the national hate crime report and support centre, which is run on our behalf by Victim Support Cymru. There is support and it will be taken seriously. Dirprwy Lywydd, we need to continue to challenge hate, wherever we find it, so that one day we can truly honour genocide victims and say with confidence that the lessons of genocide have been learned. Diolch yn fawr.