We reproduce from the Corriere della Sera website the report on the activities carried out by the Gariwo Foundation at the United Nations, signed by Joshua Evangelista, Gariwo communications manager.
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The fourth International Day for countering Hate Speech, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021, was held on 18 June. The UN headquarters in New York hosted the celebrations, for which the Gariwo Foundation was also selected as an example of good practice for building ethical coalitions against hate speech. Gariwo stands for “Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide” and was founded in 1999 in Milan. To date, more than 200 Gardens of the Righteous have been inaugurated in Italy and around the world: the first was established in 2003 at Monte Stella in Milan. In 2012 the Foundation obtained from the European Parliament the institution of the Day of the Righteous, which is celebrated every year on 6 March. We publish below an account of Gariwo's intervention at the UN headquarters in New York.
The Gariwo Foundation was one of the special guests of the United Nations for the International Day for countering Hate Speech, which was held today at the United Nations Headquarters and at which the Gardens of the Righteous model was presented as an educational, cultural and civic tool for combating hatred and preventing new atrocities.
The meeting, supported by the UN Office for the Prevention of Genocide and opened by Special Advisor and Under-Secretary General Virginia Gamba, one of the candidates to become the new Secretary General, centred on the proposal to establish an International Day of the Righteous of Humanity, formally recognising the universal value of those who, in every time and place, have defended human dignity by opposing crimes, persecution and authoritarian regimes.
In his speech, Gamba announced that she intends to promote the initiative within the UN system, recognising the contribution made by Gariwo over the years:
‘Stop politicising the word Righteous,’ she said. "It is time to push for the dignity of all, as Gariwo teaches us, even in these times of war. That is why I will strive for the United Nations to take this proposal forward at the global level."
One of the most intense moments of the morning was the speech by the spokespersons of the binational village Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam, Nir Sharon and Samah Salaime, who recounted daily life in a unique place where Jewish and Palestinian families have chosen to live together in the name of peace and non-violence.
Their testimony deeply moved the audience. The ongoing war has also affected this fragile experiment in coexistence: today the village is divided, and Samah is stuck in Paris, unable to return to Israel and uncertain when she will be able to re-embrace her community. In this context, the Garden of the Righteous of Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam takes on an even more powerful value: not only a space of memory, but a living trace of a possible dialogue, today suspended, but no less necessary.
‘The Righteous are the guardians of humanity,’ said Gabriele Nissim, president of Gariwo. ‘We cannot limit ourselves to remembering the victims when it is too late: we must educate to prevent, and do so by telling those who had the courage to choose the Good before evil spread.’
This is the profound sense of the Gardens promoted by Gariwo in over 300 cities around the world: not monuments, but civic spaces where the memory of Good is cultivated as the basis for responsible, open, solidarity-based citizenship. Not places of passive remembrance, but ethical workshops where history is interwoven with education, participation and public recognition of those who have chosen, often in solitude, not to look the other way.
The initiative presented in New York now aims to involve a group of countries - with Italy in a coordinating position - to support a motion at the United Nations General Assembly for the official recognition of the Day of the Righteous of Humanity, already established as a civil solemnity in Italy and the Republic of San Marino and recognised by the European Parliament.
Several states have already expressed their interest in joining, including Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. The aim is to build an international coalition that values the exemplary figures of our time not only as an ethical heritage, but as active instruments of prevention, education and cultural diplomacy.
At a time marked by new wars, escalating violent rhetoric and profound crises of coexistence, the Righteous remind us that an alternative is always possible. Even in the heart of an apparently irremediable conflict, such as that between Israelis and Palestinians, a garden can be born in which to plant - and share - the memory of those who have chosen peace.