Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice
Today is the day when we mark the Srebrenica genocide in Wales.
We honour the victims of those terrible events and we remember the many families and the many communities that were touched by the hurt and the pain that they caused.
This year’s theme from Remembering Srebrenica is ‘Combatting Denial: Challenging Hatred’ and this message resonates very deeply in Wales.
Wales has always been and remains a nation proud to open its doors, especially to those fleeing violence and hatred. It was an honour for the First Minister and I to visit the Welcome Centre for Ukrainians at the Urdd centre in Llangrannog to personally welcome our friends from Ukraine and to hear at first hand their stories.
The events in Srebrenica we remember today reinforces the importance of the ambition to become an anti-racist Wales by 2030. We want to go further than challenging discrimination– we have committed ourselves fundamentally to the elimination of hate and inequality in all its forms.
Being anti-racist means actively challenging those systems and structures that produce radically different outcomes for ethnic minority groups. If we do nothing, then we are complicit in allowing racism to continue.
Events like these today are so important. They give us the opportunity to come together and to remember. To remember those who died in this and other genocides.
As we mark these poignant milestones, it is our duty to reflect on what we can learn from these terrible events. To show solidarity, as individuals, as communities and as friends, with those who still suffer persecution every single day.
In 2022 that work has never been more important. We unfortunately live today in another age of fracture and division. Where too often in our discourse, emphasis is put on those things that separate us rather than that which unites us.
I commend the work of Remembering Srebrenica Wales and the vital role they are playing in raising awareness of the consequences of hate, to promote education and understanding, and to combat hatred and prejudice. All this work will help us deliver an anti-racist Wales, drive the changes we all want to see – and move us ever closer to a Wales genuinely fit for future generations.