JUSTICE - No. 66

26 No. 66 JUSTICE Using the Working Definition and Helping States The German Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), an NGO established within the Berlin Jewish community, was commissioned by the EC to provide a handbook for states on using the Working Definition, in particular by noting examples of good practice. In turn, RIAS sub-contracted much of the research and drafting work to the International Institute for Education and Research on Antisemitism (IIBSA), another Berlin-based NGO, and myself, the UK- based Senior Consultant to the World Jewish Congress. The goal was to present the Working Definition and its examples, and to relate these to real-world incidents and crimes in order to illustrate good practices on the use of the Working Definition and offer a checklist for using it across different policy areas. Information for the report was gathered through questionnaires sent to EU member states and heads of Jewish communities. The overwhelming majority of states responded, thereby enabling the production of a set of valid conclusions. Considerable support was provided by the IHRA for the project which began in June 2020 and ended with the presentation of the Handbook to the EC Working Group in December 2020. 13 The Handbook demonstrated that the Working Definition, even without its being legally binding, is increasingly used to train police officers and prosecutors, improves classification of antisemitic incidents, and supports decision-making processes by states, human rights organizations and law enforcement agencies. It is also being used to direct funding to civil society and human rights organizations engaged in fighting antisemitism. 14 In addition to publishing and analyzing the antisemitic incidents and crime data sent to them by state parties, Jewish communities and others, FRA has collected information on how national and regional authorities use or intend to use the Working Definition since 2018, thereby helping to guide their work in combating antisemitism. 15 An additional boost to the use of the Working Definition has also been developed within the renewed Words into Action to Address Antisemitism program developed by ODIHR with the World Jewish Congress, which will run in ten states from 2021 to 2022. Combating Holocaust Denial and Distortion In 2020, the High Governmental Representatives of the Member Countries of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) published a Ministerial Declaration on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the death camps. In this declaration, they noted, inter alia, their support for the 2000 Stockholm Declaration which led ultimately to the formation of IHRA, and in Article 7, their responsibility to counter Holocaust denial and distortion as a vital means to combat antisemitism which they recognize undermines fundamental democratic principles. 16 IHRA therefore established the Global Task Force Against Holocaust Distortion in 2020, with the cooperation of the German government, with the aim of bringing together “governmental and non-governmental bodies to identify, share and promote good practices on countering Holocaust distortion.” 17 In January 2021, IHRA published its recommendations, in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), for policy makers on recognizing and countering distortion. They noted that Holocaust distortion, which they characterize as “efforts to minimize the impact of the Holocaust and downplay the crimes of the Nazi regime and its collaborators in both public and political discourse,” undermines history and threatens social, political and cultural coexistence. Confronting distortion is not only a task for governments, but also for law enforcement agencies and the media. 18 These 13. European Commission, H ANDBOOK FORTHE P RACTICAL USE OF THE IHRA W ORKING D EFINITION OF A NTISEMITISM (Publications Office of the EU in cooperation with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (2021)), available at https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/ publication/d3006107-519b-11eb-b59f-01aa75ed71a1/ language-en 14. Ibid. , H ANDBOOK FOR THE P RACTICAL USE OF THE IHRA W ORKING D EFINITION OF A NTISEMITISM , pp. 17-35. 15. Supra note 1, pp. 92-93. 16. International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, “Ministerial Declaration” (Jan. 19, 2020), available at https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/about-us/2020- ihra-ministerial-declaration 17. International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, “Holocaust Denial and Distortion: Global Task Force against Holocaust distortion”(March 2020), available at https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/task-force- against-holocaust-denial-and-distortion 18. International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, “Recognizing and Countering Holocaust Distortion - Recommendations for Policy and Decision Makers”(Jan. 2021), available at https://www.holocaustremembrance. com/sites/default/files/2021-01/Recognizing%20and%20 Count er i ng%20Ho l ocaus t%20Di s t or t i on%20 Recommendations%20%E2%80%93%20IHRA.pdf