Right now the United Nations is webcasting a special commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps. This is their offical statement:

With everlasting regret for the past and "never again" resolve for the future, the United Nations today commemorates the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps, symbol of the Holocaust that slaughtered at least 6 million Jews and others in World War II.

The 191-member General Assembly is holding its first-ever special commemorative session to mark the event which is of particular significance for a world body that Secretary-General Kofi Annan says was in part born out of the ashes of the Holocaust.

Before the day-long session, Mr. Annan and his wife, Nane, hosted a coffee reception for death damp survivors and other distinguished guests, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

The plenary session, laden with symbolism, is to be addressed by Mr. Annan and the Foreign Ministers of Israel and Germany, heirs to the two sides of the Holocaust, as well as senior ministers from a host of other countries from all regions.

It comes three days before the actual anniversary of the liberation by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945 of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp which, with its gas ovens and crematoria, came to epitomize more than any other the horrors and efficiency of the Nazi death machine.

Very nice to see the U.N. getting around to this after only 60 years.

Coming 30 years after the world body adopted a resolution branding Zionism a "form of racism" — a move that soured UN-Israel relations — the UN's special session represents a significant event, a Western diplomat said.

[Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan] Gillerman, who has often clashed with the United Nations over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said the organization's decision to hold the event could be linked to an evolving world.

"Maybe we are at a point in history where the changes in the world are reflecting on the United Nations. We do live in a changing world, in a world which hopefully presents us today with a unique window of opportunity to make peace in our region," he said.

"Maybe that atmosphere has made it possible for 148 countries, including many countries who normally may not have supported such an initiative, to come aboard and we are very gratified that this is happening," Gillerman said.

The session approved by UN members was sponsored by the United States, Israel, the European Union, Russia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. [AFP]

Besides being a powerful symbolic gesture toward Israel, this is an offical world statement against those who would minimize or even deny the existence of the Holocaust and all that they stand for.