Cabinet of Ministers approves members to Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research [30 Nov 2006]

On 30 November 2006, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft order On the Delegation of the Republic of Latvia to the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, providing for the approval of the delegation's composition, specifying duties and responsibilities of the head of the delegation and its members, for the order of reporting on the performance and for the Latvian participation fees and responsibilities of the involved Latvian ministries for budgeting for business travel and other expenses of the delegation's members.

With this order taking effect, the instruction of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 792 of 18 December 2003 On Latvia's Participation in the International Holocaust Task Force that covered participation of Latvian representatives in the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, formed in 1998, to date will become invalid.

In 2000 in Stockholm, a large international forum dedicated to holocaust issues was held, in which Latvia was represented by its President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga. The Stockholm forum adopted a declaration in which its member countries, acknowledging that the world still is experiencing genocide, ethnic cleanings, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia, agreed among other things, that the international community shall be responsible for fighting against these evils. Latvia became member of the ITF at the close of 2004.

Latvia's membership in the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research envisages international co-operation in enhancing educational programmes in the sphere of holocaust and in the training of educators. By acquiring the experience of other member states in research and education, Latvian scholars and teachers can obtain useful knowledge, take over or adjust the methodology for explaining to Latvian society these sensitive and complex issues of history proposed by the ITF.

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