Friday, January 27, 2017

Holocaust Memorial Day - Jersey 27 January 2017 - Bob Le Sueur MBE speaker

21 Jersey residents are known to have died in Concentration Camps during WW2 and about 300 more were deported to continental prison camps for such offences as listening to the radio

Jersey's Holocaust Memorial Day is centred upon their memory but with a world-wide perspective.
Every year there is a guest speaker, readings, prayers and the laying of wreaths by officials of the Island and many groups and individuals.

Unfortunately, Jersey has not ratified such important UN Conventions as CEDAW - to Eliminate All forms of Discrimination Against Women - and the government does not treat human rights and the elimination of discrimination in all its forms as a priority.

Discrimination on the grounds of Disability has not yet been enacted for example  and the relevant UN Convention has also not yet been ratified.

Very little information about the application of human rights and related international treaties and obligations is published by the Jersey administration.

Chief Minister Ian Gorst laid a wreath today on behalf of the Government of Jersey but declined to be interviewed.

This year  Bob Le Sueur MBE delivered the keynote speech which is presented in full here;

3 comments:

  1. Tom Gruchy.

    I don't think it is a problem Chief Minister Gorst refusing you an interview today. Just re-post the one's he has given you in the past on Holocaust Memorial Day because they are the same empty words every year. Nothing changes and discrimination is rife on the island as it always has been.........Despite the same empty words every year.

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  2. Quick correction Tom: the Lighthouse Memorial has incorrect numbers on it. From Guernsey, Jersey and Sark combined, just over 200 were deported to Nazi prisons and concentration and labour camps for acts of protest, defiance and resistance. I have spent the last few years building up a master list based on all archives in the CIs, London and various French and German archives, plus the International Tracing Service records, plus an exhaustive search through published and unpublished diaries and memoirs, plus police, prison and court martial records in the Channel Islands. 300 from Jersey alone is not correct.
    Gilly Carr

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  3. Thanks for recording - I'd sooner listen to Bob Le Sueur, whom I see as a real hero, than the CM!

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