Use of ihra working definition of antisemitism

• Pages: 92-93

92

For this update, FRA has collected information from EU Member States on

how national, regional or local authorities use or intend to use the non-legally

binding working def‌inition of antisemitism adopted by the International

Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in May2016.

86

In adeclaration

adopted in December2018, the Council of the European Union called on the

Member States to endorse the non-legally binding working def‌inition of

antisemitism developed by the IHRA.87

According to the IHRA working def‌inition, ‘[a]ntisemitism is acertain perception

of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews. Rhetorical and

physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-

Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions

and religious facilities.’ The def‌inition is accompanied by illustrative examples

of manifestations of antisemitism.

FRA addressed all EU Member States, North

Macedonia and Serbia, receiving replies from 19

countries to the question of if– and how– the

national, regional or local authorities use (or intend

to use) the IHRA def‌inition.88 In the following,

the information provided by the countries is

summarised, with further details included based

on the information collected by the IHRA.

In 2017, the governments of Austria, Bulgaria,

Germany and Romania adopted or endorsed the

IHRA def‌inition. According to the information

provided to FRA, in Romania the def‌inition was

used in the seminars organised by the Auschwitz

Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass

Atrocities in cooperation with the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs and the national network for the

prevention of genocide and mass atrocities in September2019. Furthermore,

aBulgarian edition of ‘Addressing Anti-Semitism Through Education–

Guidelines for Policymakers’ developed by UNESCO and ODIHR was published

in January2020. The edition acknowledges the instrumental role of the IHRA’s

working def‌inition of antisemitism in the f‌ield of education on the matter.

In 2018, the IHRA def‌inition was adopted or endorsed by the governments

of Belgium, Lithuania, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia

86 See the IHRA’s webpage on working def‌initions and charters.

87 Council of the European Union (2018), Council Declaration on the f‌ight against

antisemitism and the development of acommon security approach to better

protect Jewish communities and institutions in Europe– Council conclusion

(6December 2018).

88 FRA did not request the information from the United Kingdom since the

requests were sent when the United Kingdom was no longer an EU Member

State and there was no national liaison off‌icer available.

Use of IHRA working def‌inition

of antisemitism