The House of Representatives paused today to remember the victims of the holocaust, this being International Holocaust Day.

Foreign Minister George Vella said he shared thoughts expressed in the morning by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca about the need for young people to be aware of what happened more than 71 years ago.

This was a commemoration of the millions who died in the genocide and those who went through the ordeal and survived the concentration camps. 

One also needed to acknowledge the courage of those who sought to help the victims, at the risk of their own lives.

Whoever sought to deny the holocaust was a criminal. This was an event that should never be forgotten and the world should learn its lessons to avoid a repeat.

One needed to reflect on the dangers of absolute power, where people did not question the orders they were given, however illegal they were.

These were not phenomena which developed overnight. Xenophobia was one way how such situations developed.

The lesson that should have been learnt was 'never again'. But had this lesson been learnt? Since 1945 there had been atrocities and excesses which were not on the scale of the holocaust, but were alarming, such as what happened in Rwanda, the Balkans and now Syria. 

One also needed to remember how almost two million desperate people were locked in Palestine, suffering what was akin to Chinese torture. He had seen the tunnels allegedly dug by the Palestinians. Those, he said, were a symptom of desperation.

He was not comparing this to the holocaust, but the suffering was huge. 

Animals did not cause the suffering which man caused to fellow man.

There was need for respect for human rights and international order. International organisations needed to be made effective. Unfortunately, the UN, because of veto powers, had been rendered impotent. Malta backed reform of the UN aimed at enabling it to act effectively. 

The young needed to be taught to respect others, because that was at the heart of everything. Commemorations were not enough unless they were used to promote respect for fundamental human rights.  This applied also to Malta which was going through cultural change and one could not, at a stroke, decide that some people were not desirable simply because they were different or held a different culture. 

Tonio Fenech, speaking for the opposition, expressed his concern that lessons had not been learnt. 71 years had passed since Auschwitz was liberated, but still, extremism was leading to exterminations in many parts of the world. 

The holocaust was not a disaster created by one man. It had happened because the seed of hatred was sown in a people against another people over a long period of time.

Was the same thing happening in the modern world, this time against other races or people who did not hold the same religion? Could this lead to a situation where somebody could rise and ride this sentiment of hatred, as had also happened in   Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda and was also manifesting itself in Isis and Boko Haram, which exterminated or oppressed those people who did not conform?

Freedom of speech, however important, should not be allowed to destroy even more fundamental rights, including the right to live in peace, security and respect.

He, like the minister, had visited Auschwitz and was shocked. One could hardly believe what had happened because of racial hatred.

This, therefore was not just a commemoration of the past but a spur for human rights not to remain a declaration on paper. Racism and xenophobia now had even more effective tools than 70 years ago, such as social media. Hatred was rearing its head and needed to be countered. Freedom of speech, however important, should not be allowed to destroy even more fundamental rights, including the right to live in peace, security and respect. 

Mr Fenech said a people that was a victim should not become an oppressor. Rights applied to everyone. Solutions needed a political, with full respect for human rights. Using oppression meant that nothing had been learnt.

Speaker Anglu Farrugia associated himself with the thoughts of both sides and also expressed concerns over hatred fomented by Isis, as well as antisemitism and the rise of the Far Right. Hatred, he said, should not be on anybody's agenda and needed to be countered by respect.

MPs then observed a minute's silence.