A/77/512 68. The Special Rapporteur wishes to highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic has not ended and that the damage to the social fabric that it caused persists. She also stresses the need to learn lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in order to prevent similar racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and xenophobia in the context of future public health or other emergencies. G. Instrumentalization of the standards and tools designed to address neo-Nazism, antisemitism and related racism, xenophobia and intolerance 69. The Special Rapporteur interprets resolution 76/149 and other relevant international standards and tools as seeking the genuine protection of groups and individuals subject to human rights violations rooted in neo-Nazism. The Special Rapporteur has regrettably noted a trend whereby various actors have instrumentalized certain human rights standards and tools resulting in repression of human rights. The Special Rapporteur is deeply alarmed by this trend because it undermines serious attempts to address neo-Nazism and related racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Moreover, it can obscure the oppression of groups affected by human rights violations, often also rooted in neo-Nazism, racism, xenophobia and related intolerance. Universality is a foundational principle of international human rights law and the rights of one group cannot be instrumentalized to deny the human rights of others. 70. As was underscored in the report of the Special Rapporteur to the fiftieth session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/50/61), she notes, with alarm, that the Russian Federation has sought to justify its military invasion and territorial aggression in Ukraine on the purported basis of eliminating neo-Nazism. This is a blatant instrumentalization of the serious human rights concerns raised by neo-Nazi mobilizations where they exist. The pretextual use of neo-Nazism to justify territorial aggression seriously undermines genuine attempts to combat neo-Nazism. The Special Rapporteur denounces and condemns in the strongest terms such pretextual use, including in relation to the unlawful breach of the sovereign territory of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis that breach has caused. 71. The Special Rapporteur also calls attention to the politically motivated instrumentalization of the fight against antisemitism, which is increasingly linked to the adoption, promotion and implementation by States of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism. While reiterating the urgent need for Member States to remain committed to fighting antisemitism in all its manifestations, she urges greater attention and care regarding the implications of tools used in that context. Specifically, she calls upon Member States to ensure that all measures taken and instruments relied upon are fully compliant with and supportive of broader international human rights law norms. 72. Notwithstanding the political endorsement of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition across Europe and in North America, it has become highly controversial and divisive owing to its susceptibility to being politically instrumentalized and the harm done to human rights resulting from such instrumentalization. 1 As a result, the Special Rapporteur cautions against reliance on the working definition as a guiding instrument for and at the United Nations and its constituent entities. __________________ 1 14/20 See, for example, Corey Balsam, “Who’s against adopting the IHRA antisemitism definition?”, The Times of Israel, 9 December 2020, which contains a list of some of the myriad groups and individuals that have publicly raised serious concerns about the defini tion or its instrumentalization, including Israel Prize laureates, academics, universities, civil liberties groups, Jewish and Israeli organizations, and Palestinian and Arab organizations. 22-22915