MINSK, 24 May (BelTA) – The international parliamentary conference “Historical memory. The great victory achieved by unity” will be held in Minsk on 14-15 June. The House of Representatives is hosting a meeting of the working group that will run the forum, BelTA has learned.
The objectives of the conference are to unite efforts of the international community to protect historical memory, exchange expertise and knowledge in legislative regulation related to the prevention of the rehabilitation of Nazism, the glorification of Nazi criminals and their accomplices. The participants of the forum will also discuss ways to strengthen the CIS inter-parliamentary cooperation in countering attempts to falsify the historical truth and the memory of World War II and the Great Patriotic War.
Invitations to participate in the conference were sent to the parliaments of the former republics of the USSR, the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, government officials, scientists and experts.
“The international parliamentary conference “Historical memory. The great victory achieved by unity” is a large-scale project running under the auspices of the House of Representatives. Together with the General Prosecutor's Office, the Defense Ministry, the Academy of Public Administration we will raise very serious topics that are part of the fundamental values and heritage of the Republic of Belarus. Today, the attempts to falsify the historical memory have become simply outrageous,” Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Commission on Human Rights, National Relations and Mass Media Lilia Ananich said.
The MP urged to fight for what is important for Belarusians. “One of such things is the Great Victory of the Soviet people. We have invited international parliamentary delegations from the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, integration organizations, diplomats accredited in Belarus. It is very important that the academic and expert community of Belarus and a number of other states is responding actively to our invitation. The forum will be divided into five thematic sections. Each of them will focus on specific efforts to preserve the historical memory,” she noted.
“It is very important for us to highlight the genocide of the Belarusian people at the international level. The criminal investigation of the genocide has revealed some new evidence of this terrible tragedy of the Belarusian people. A thematic section will be held and we really hope that this will become a starting point of our path to achieving the international recognition of the genocide of the Belarusian people. It is very important today to have a look at the historiography of the Great Patriotic War. It is important to see how this topic is treated in the post-Soviet space,” Lilia Ananich said.
Today it is necessary to respond to new challenges and threats. “The continuity of generations, the promotion of patriotism - these topics are taking on new significance in Belarus. Today this is our reality, the policy of our president. This is our Constitution, our legislation. After analyzing the legislation of the CIS countries, we see that Belarus is an example to follow, and we are ready to share our legislative experience on preventing the rehabilitation of Nazism and counteracting neo-Nazism,” the MP said.
The working group is set to approve the programs of the thematic sections of the conference and to discuss the participation of foreign delegations.
“Today, we will go through all the thematic sections. This painstaking work has actually been going on for half a year. And I want to draw attention to another important topic. We hope for such a serious discussion about the Great Victory in the public media space. After all, today the information space is like a battlefield. And on this battlefield for the Great Victory, we must fight in the same way as our fathers and grandfathers fought in 1941-1945. We will win and there is no doubt about it,” she said.
