Fellow Delegates:
Let me first of all express my respect and gratitude to the Swedish government and its Prime Minister, the organiser of this illustrious Forum, in which I have the honour to represent my country – and in some measure all of Latin America – as President of the Argentine Republic.
On behalf of the governmental delegation and the Argentine Jewish organisations present here, I would like to voice our appreciation for this wonderful initiative.

One figure has come to stand as a paradigm for the defiance of evil. I refer to Raoul Wallenberg, who understood that, as the Talmudic saying puts it, “to save a life is to save mankind”. His fate as a “missing person” under another totalitarian regime casts a tragic light on his case.

In central Buenos Aires a memorial has been erected to this bold defender of human dignity. Numerous public and private initiatives have paid homage to his heroic deed, which symbolises what Pope John Paul II in his message on January 1 called “the honour of humanity’s,“ against the background the horrors that mark this century that is drawing to a close.

Another person whose acts have gained wide recognition should receive special mention: Oskar Schindler. His widow Emilie has been living in Argentina for many years and can count on our full affection and support.

The Shoah is a subject of universal relevance. We are all involved, we are all affected, we are all sufferers, across all physical and temporal frontiers. Responding to the demands of truth and memory, the Argentine government has opened its archives to publish the “Testimony Project” developed jointly with Jewish organisations. This project documents the actions of Argentine officials and diplomats since the beginning of Nazism. Some were sympathetic and concerned to help their Jewish fellow nationals; others were unable to respond in the measure demanded by the magnitude of the tragedy.

Let me sum up in one name that of all the victims who by birth or choice should have enjoyed the “benefits of liberty” guaranteed by the Argentine Constitution. Her name was Matilde Bueno. She was born in a typical Buenos Aires district, one that has also immortalized the tango. She was thirteen when she was deported with her mother from Salonika to Auschwitz-Birkenau and killed in the gas chambers on May 4, 1943. We pay homage to this young Argentine and to all those who have followed her to so cruel a death. Argentine justice has approved extradition requests for people charged with offences against humanity who have entered the country and abused its hospitality. The former government established the Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Activities in Argentina, which after two years of inquiry submitted data and conclusions not only leading to a better knowledge of Argentine history, but also joining up with similar initiatives elsewhere in the world.

Convinced as I am that this is a matter of “state policy,” I am happy to say that this committee will continue its work in the area. Memory is essential. To remember is to declare, to share the pain and the horror, to grieve with the victims. Buenos Aires is to have a Holocaust Museum on a site donated by the State.

In the City of Resistencia, in the province of Chaco, there is a memorial to humanity in
homage to the Holocaust victims. It was erected on the initiative of congressman Claudio Mendoza (PJ), who also promoted the adoption of a law providing for another memorial in the city of Buenos Aires, just opposite the National Congress.

Memory is essential. Remembering the Shoah is more than a historical exercise. It also means discovering, preventing and struggling against any outbreak of discriminatory, racial and xenophobic trends. The end of the century is witnessing other horrors, so-called “ethnic cleansing” and various other ways of eliminating groups of people, destroying cultures, uprooting and even enslaving human beings.

In 1999, one encouraging event took place: one hundred and twenty countries, among them Argentina, decided to create an International Criminal Court. Although it will be some years before it is established in practice, the Secretary- General of the United Nations has called it “a gift of hope for future generations.”

Education, in its two dimensions, has occupied a significant position in this Forum.
The first dimension is knowledge of the Holocaust itself, by including it in school curricula and carrying out surveys and research at the intermediate and high-school levels to encourage critical thought. I have decided, following Brite’s initiative, that the Anti-discriminatory Act shall be taught in Buenos Aires. I have also decided that April 19, the date of the Warsaw ghetto uprising , shall be observed in the school calendar in every educational institution in Argentina. The consequences drawn from this terrible lesson constitute the second dimension. The family, as the starting point of a human being’s education, is where such values as respect, human dignity, dialogue, understanding and mutual acceptance are first and fundamentally learned.

Schools must open their doors to the disabled, to immigrants and to problem children, which in turn entails a new teaching approach designed to affirm the validity of diversity.
Churches and religion are very important as well, on account of their theological approach and the inter-faith commemorations of what John Paul II has called the “unspeakable iniquity” of the Shoah. There is a fundamental opposition between the genuinely religious and all forms of violence and persecution on ethnic or religious grounds. Intermediary organisations, the mass media and governments bear the fundamental responsibility.

Let me mention my country’s Act against all forms of discrimination, which I personally
drafted, which provides for more severe penalties for offences committed for reasons of
ethnic or religious hatred and makes the spreading or advertising of these evil doctrines an offence. Let me also mention our bill imposing more severe punishment for grave desecration as an expression of hate that does not even respect the peace of the dead. Recently, the Argentine Republic has endured two hideous attacks: the criminal attacks on the Israeli Embassy and the AMIA building. The government I preside over – let me reiterate this emphatically – is committed to furthering the investigation of these criminal events to ensure that it reaches a satisfactory and logical conclusion. The Bible says: “Justice, justice you shall seek.”

Ladies and Gentlemen: Latin America is an ethnic melting pot, thousands
of human beings have arrived there looking for a new beginning; but it has endured –
and my country is no exception – authoritarian regimes and the systematic violation of human rights. Nowadays, endemic conditions of exclusion deprive many people of the essential rights to life, education and work, a situation that is aggravated by the protectionist barriers preventing our countries from gaining access to markets.

I appeal to the governments and organisations of the most developed nations not to forget those who suffer any form of oppression or discrimination, even in the rich societies, where immigrants, children and the elderly have to endure intolerance. May the 21st Century find us absolutely certain that “never again” will human beings be persecuted on account of race, religion or ideology, “never again” will there be such death convoys as those going to Auschwitz, which was liberated fifty-five years ago today. For every human being is an inhabitant of this world and a citizen of Mankind.

May God, Father of all creatures “let the light of his countenance shine upon us” so that real peace, SHALOM that we wish for each other, and that we claim for Mankind, can be ours.