Tbilisi: Georgian Public Ombudsman responds to the Holocaust Remembrance Day, which has been celebrated on January 27, on the initiative of the United Nations, since 2005. As the Ombudsman stated, “Celebrating this day has not only symbolic value as it helps us understand the extent of a tragedy based on ethnic, religious or other identity-based intolerance and hatred”.
 Unfortunately, the acceptance of the difference and the displacement of people because of this, including in Georgia, is not unknown today. This is evident from the statements received in the Public Ombudsman’s apparatus, in which representatives of different social groups, point out the violation of their rights and freedoms on discriminatory grounds.Â
Discrimination is typically based on abstract fears and harmful stereotypes. In this regard, it is necessary to realize that each culture is made up of different groups of people and without mutual respect and acceptance it is impossible to build a civilized and safe society.
 It means that it was in response to the brutality of the Second World War that the international human rights system was formed in the form we have today. It is really important to understand the scale of this sacrifice, respect it and appeal to all Zhones so that in the modern world, the acceptance of difference does not become a basis for violations of any group’s rights.
 To celebrate the Holocaust Victims Day, the Tolerance Center with the support of the Georgian UN Association and Tbilisi State Universities held an event. At the event, the head of the Equality Department of the Public Ombudsman Ketevan Shubashvili spoke about the challenges of prohibiting discrimination in Georgia and the importance of remembering the victims of the Holocaust in the process of protecting equality.
