On September 18-19, the International Parliamentary Conference dedicated to the 70th year since the Babiy Yar tragedy took place in Kyiv. The conference took place at the initiate of the people's deputy of Ukraine, President of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee Alexander Feldman. On September 18, the participants of the conference took part in a mourning ceremony in Babiy Yar itself. On Sepember 19, the working meetings of the conference took place on the premises of the Ukrainian Parliament.

During the meeting, various questions were discussed, including the immortalization of the memory victims of the Babiy Yar tragedy and all of the Holocaust in Ukraine, contemporary tendencies of anti-Semitism in the world, and the difficult international situation around Israel and the Near East peace process. Alexander Feldman also voiced the idea to create the Jewish Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv.

Among those who took part in the work of the conference were members of national parliaments of many countries, representatives of the diplomatic body, and leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine. The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress was represented by EAJC General Council members Dr. Anatoliy Podolsky, the Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, and Vyacheslav Likhachev, leader of the Congress program on monitoring and analysis of xenophobia manifestations.

 

Vyacheslav Likhachev spoke about the hate crime statistic, including anti-Semitism, and drew the attention of the attendees to the fact that Jews are not the number one enemy of xenophobes in post-Soviet territory. In connection with this, the EAJC General Council member called for the representatives of the Jewish community to participate more actively in creating a a system for the monitoring and early warning for xenophobia, as well as in instituting a more active dialogue with the communities that are currently in the focus of public xenophobia, including the Muslim community. Vyacheslav Likhachev also called for the parliamentarians of different countries to attempt to influence the foreign ministries of their countries so that the one-sided acknowledgement of the Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly session would not become possible.