Clwyd West MS Darren Millar emphasised the importance of remembering all who lost their lives during the Holocaust and in the genocides that have followed when speaking in the Senedd Chamber this week and called for swift action to deal with the racism and hatred which still exists in Wales.

In the week of Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 (January 27th), Darren welcomed the many Holocaust Memorial Day Trust activities to support commemoration across the country and urged Members of the Senedd to engage with events in their constituencies, “particularly those that involve the first-hand testimonies of those dwindling numbers of people who survived the brutality of the evils of the Nazi regime.”

Speaking in response to the Statement by the Minister for Social Justice ‘Holocaust Memorial Day’, he also spoke of the racism and hatred which still exists in society today and the need for swift action to tackle it.

He said:

“I think it's really important that the Senedd and the nation of Wales takes the time to remember and reflect upon the horrors of the Holocaust and all genocides since, and Holocaust Memorial Day helps us to do just that. I want to pay tribute as well to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and to the Holocaust Education Trust for the work that they do, not only on Holocaust Memorial Day, but all year round, to promote remembrance of these things. Because they don't only offer us an opportunity to consider all those who lost their lives as a result of the Holocaust and genocides since, they also give us an opportunity to consider survivors, those individuals who live with the mental and physical scars from those horrific periods in human history.

“Regrettably, of course, we all know that the hate and racism that acts as the breeding ground for the evil that leads to events such as the Holocaust has unfortunately not been completely eradicated, and it's for this reason that we've always got to be vigilant and take swift action to tackle racism and hate wherever it rears its ugly head.”

Darren expressed concern that hate crimes recorded in Wales continue to rise, including reports of antisemitism, and called again for an explanation from the Welsh Government as to why people from Israel were prevented from accessing their Cadw website.

He also raised concerns over the recent appointment of Rocio Cifuentes as the new Children's Commissioner for Wales, whose social media posts show that she attended a protest in Swansea at which there were chants of 'Khaybar, oh Jews', a well-known rallying call to genocide, and, with many public sector organisation in receipt of Welsh Government funds having not adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, called on the Welsh Government to commit to requiring “anybody in receipt of Welsh Government funds to adopt that definition as a matter of urgency”.