We reproduce the speech delivered on 18 June 2025 by Gariwo Foundation Chairman Gabriele Nissim at the United Nations Secretariat in New York, during the proceedings of the 4th International Day for Combating Hate Speech.
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FROM NEW YORK - Ladies and gentlemen, Her Excellency Virginia Gamba, Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, representatives of all the States of the United Nations.
To understand the mission of Gariwo Foundation, one should start with the great insight of Polish Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin, who wanted the world to unite in 1948 around the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, of which he was the tireless architect, after the ruins of the Second World War.
Destruction of a people or a group weakens the whole of humanity because the world is a great relationship based on cooperation between people. When the world misses a piece, as Lemkin argued, part of its wealth is lost. It is as if an orchestra missed the music of one of its instruments. The sound would no longer be the same and each musician, as every human being, would lose a part of their soul.
Who, then, is the bulwark of this bond between human beings and stands up as the defender of the wealth of the entire human plurality?
It is those we call the Righteous who come to the aid of their neighbours, oppose hatred towards other human beings, and work for the reconciliation of peoples after wars and exterminations. It is the individuals who fight evil with good and heal the wounds of humanity.
That is why the famous saying goes ‘whoever saves a life not only saves one person, but the whole world’.
Without the presence and determination of the Righteous who hear the call of their conscience, the great dream of the UN Convention might not be possible. Indeed, the moral strength of the new commandment calling on the world to never commit genocide again does not depend solely on states, it does on the responsibility of individuals who have the courage to act. The legal and diplomatic mechanism of the prevention policy sought by Raphael Lemkin is based on the responsibility and will of moral individuals whom we define as Righteous, because they save the whole of humanity through their actions.
Saving means preventing evil and giving strength and life to the UN Convention.
With this philosophy in mind, Gariwo Foundation has built over three hundred Gardens of the Righteous around the world to raise awareness and give visibility to those who work to save the lives of others, to foster justice and tolerance, but also the sustainability of our planet that is threatened by climate change. All religions remember the golden rule that prescribes not to do to others harm that one would never want to suffer, as Morocco recalled in the founding document of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech on 18th June.
This is the great moral force that explains the behaviour of the Righteous.
The ethics of compassionate, responsible and just individuals towards other human beings belongs to all philosophical and religious cultures.
I have been lucky enough to be a friend and biographer of Moshe Bejski, the great creator of the Garden of the Righteous in Jerusalem, which, with its over 20,000 trees and names, commemorates those who saved the lives of Jews during the Shoah, the most terrible genocide of the 20th century.
This is why I thought that the idea of the Gardens of the Righteous should become universal, to remember every person on this earth who saves the lives of others.
I wanted to call them the ‘Righteous of Humanity’ because they feel it is their duty to risk their lives to help any group of people in danger, regardless of their nationality, religion or ethnicity. They are the guardians of all human beings.
As Raphael Lemkin recalled, these people act to prevent wars and genocides before evil floods the world with its ruins.
When we sadly remember exterminations and victims, as it happened with the genocide of the Jews and Armenians, it is always too late. It is always the memory of a defeat of humanity. This is why remembrance only has a profound meaning when we educate people to become just and to prevent all crimes against humanity.
Today, we are presenting our work in New York because we are convinced that in today’s divided and torn world, with wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, it is important to remember the original spirit of the United Nations, set up to preserve peace and human diversity.
Unfortunately, the state of the world today reminds us of the desolation and atmosphere surrounding the Second World War. Perhaps never before have we needed so many Righteous to rebuild, through their example, a new bond that unites all the nations of the planet. They have the difficult task of mending relations in a context of heavy confrontation.
We believe that universal Gardens of the Righteous can be a great educational and pedagogical tool to save peace and hope for the future of humanity, as newly elected Pope Leo XIV reminds us, urging us to build bridges and break down the walls of hatred.
I would like to explain the great revolutionary power of these gardens in a few words.
They show society the beauty of good people who have realized that everyone, in their own small way, can do something to save the world and set it back on the right path. Through their actions, good people teach us that the best way to combat hatred is to show that love and respect for others make life more beautiful and happier.
The Gardens of the Righteous educate society not to forget and to express gratitude to those who do good, so that the best examples can be passed on.
But perhaps the most important educational impact of these gardens, which tell the stories of Righteous people, is to encourage people from all walks of life to rediscover their common humanity.
This is why the Gardens of the Righteous are small grassroots United Nations, where different people come together wishing to have a dialogue and to commit for the good of human beings.
This is why today we ask you to support the setting up of gardens in your country and we hope that the Day of the Righteous of Humanity, voted by Italian and European Parliament, will become increasingly international.
An ancient philosopher, emperor Marcus Aurelius, wrote that we should not seek an impossible utopia, we should be content with small things, because over time, small things can become great things, a possible hope for the whole world.
This is the message that the stories of the Righteous convey to us every day, as they push humanity in the right direction, one step after the other. This is why they are the moral elite of human beings.