PRESS RELEASE
OSCE human rights chief welcomes declaration of official Roma genocide remembrance day in Poland
WARSAW, 29 July 2011 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), welcomed today’s decision by the Polish parliament to declare 2 August as the official Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day.
“This is a historic step forward in the official recognition of the persecution and extermination of Roma and Sinti during World War II,” Lenarčič said.
ODIHR Director Ambassador Janez Lenarcic
at the Sejm, Poland's parliament, in Warsaw
on 16 November 2010. (OSCE/Curtis Budden)
He encouraged other OSCE participating States to follow Poland’s example in recognizing and commemorating the deportation and killing of Roma and Sinti under Nazi rule.