5. Statement by the Minister for Social Justice: Holocaust Memorial Day

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:30 pm on 25 January 2022.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 4:30, 25 January 2022

But, I think this is also about—and you mentioned the curriculum—the ways in which we are reaching out to our children and young people, because we funded the Holocaust Educational Trust to run the Lessons from Auschwitz programme in Wales. It's currently being delivered online, but there are seminars guided by experts and first-hand testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Those students—and I think many of us will know the young people who have benefited from those from our schools and our communities—they learn about pre-war Jewish life, the former Nazi death and concentration camps—as I said, Auschwitz-Birkenau—and then they can continue. What's so important is the links you made to the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust. So, many of those students have become ambassadors, Holocaust Educational Trust ambassadors, and that does mean that they continue to share their knowledge, but it influences the whole of their lives and their values, and they share it in their communities. That's the ambassador role: encouraging others to remember the Holocaust.

It is important that you make that connection and that link to what we are doing now in Wales in relation to our commitment to being an anti-racist Wales with our race equality action plan, to ensure that Wales is built on the values of anti-racism, calling for zero tolerance of racism in all its guises. And what's important about that is, again, the way in which that plan is co-constructed with black, Asian and minority ethnic people and communities, and identifying that vision and values that we want to embrace for an anti-racist Wales, and what those actions and goals are that we need to take forward in terms of having an outcome. It's not just rhetoric on racial equality; it's about meaningful action. It is very important that we look at this in terms of all aspects of community life, our education, our curriculum as well, which I also mentioned, and recognising that this is an opportunity for us today to take stock of the progress that we have been able to make in terms of community cohesion and education.

I think it is also very important that you raised the issue of the concerns that we have about some of the legislation, for example, at UK Government level. You'll be very aware, of course, of the joint statement that I made with the Counsel General in terms of the Nationality and Borders Bill. We're very concerned that it could cause unforeseen and unequal impacts on people arriving in Wales, simply due to their method of arrival in Wales. We continue to raise those concerns. 

I think you mentioned Armenia. We know that there are genocides that we are very concerned about and we raise regularly, sometimes through short debates, sometimes in questions, but I would like to say how pleased I am that we've been able, as a Welsh Government, to support the peace academy, Academi Heddwch Cymru, supporting our international relationships through its peace work and partnerships, supporting the promotion of Wales as a place to work, study and live. And how significant it is today, as we celebrate the Urdd and its impact on our communities, our lives, our children and young people and our education. I have not had a chance to say it today, but I'd like to thank the Urdd for the way in which they stepped up to reach out to the Afghan refugees who came to us in August and provided brilliant and wonderful support, a team Wales support, to those refugees, who are now integrated into our communities.

It's something where we can see that—. In every aspect of the points that you've made in your contribution, we can see how relevant Holocaust Memorial Day is to living to our policies, our delivery in Wales of our public services, and, indeed, in how we also raise questions and concerns about UK Government legislative programmes, like the Nationality and Borders Bill, and how we have to speak up on those points.