A/HRC/44/58 claim that white genocide is taking place in South Africa. The international conspiracy that black South Africans are carrying out a genocide campaign against white South African farmers is propagated by Suidlanders, a South African right-wing Afrikaner group, and white supremacists and alt-right groups in the United States. 29 These claims have deep historical roots. During the apartheid era, white supremacists everywhere had championed the racist policy of South Africa, based on white supremacy, and had sought to replicate the system of institutionalized racism. 38. Denialism, the refusal to accept an occurrence or fact even though there is overwhelming evidence and consensus to support the finding, distorts the historical record. It is also a threat to democracy and human rights. As discussed below, those who deny the historical truth of the Holocaust, settler colonialism and slavery do so to promote their agenda, advance white supremacy and scapegoat racial, ethnic and religious groups. 39. Holocaust denialism is a form of antisemitism. It is an attempt to absolve the perpetrators of responsibility. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has described the ways in which Holocaust denial is manifested: (a) condoning or minimizing the atrocities of the Holocaust; (b) claiming that the number of victims of the Holocaust were grossly exaggerated; (c) accusing Jews of being responsible for the Holocaust (i.e., victim-blaming); (d) portraying the Holocaust as a positive event; and (e) attributing blame to other countries or ethnic groups.30 40. Holocaust deniers rely on conspiracy theories to refute the Holocaust and delegitimize the victims of the genocide. Deniers claim that the legitimate accounts of the Holocaust are fabricated by Jews to garner sympathy and extract reparations from Germany.31 They distort or cherry pick evidence to advance their false claims that Jews died as a result of disease, hunger or other indiscriminate injuries in the Second World War.32 41. Holocaust denial has also played a central role in shaping and reinforcing stereotypes and prejudice about Jews. Characterizing Jews as controlling and dominating or blaming Jews for “exaggerating” or “creating” the Holocaust for political or financial gain are centuries-old antisemitic tropes used to dehumanize Jews and portray Nazi rule in a positive light. These conspiracies rely on and perpetuate classic racist tropes of Jews as powerful and sinister.33 42. Many international bodies have adopted resolutions, guidelines and studies condemning Holocaust denial, including the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. In Garaudy v. France, the European Court of Human Rights found that “disputing the existence of crimes against humanity was, therefore, one of the most severe forms of racial defamation and of incitement to hatred of Jews. The denial or rewriting of this type of historical fact undermined the values on which the fight against 29 30 31 32 33 10 James Pogue, “The myth of white genocide”, Harper’s Magazine (15 February 2019). Available at https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/myth-white-genocide. See also Carla Hill, “The racist obsession with South African ‘white genocide’”, Anti-Defamation League, 24 August 2018. Available at www.adl.org/blog/the-racist-obsession-with-south-african-white-genocide. International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, “Working definition of holocaust denial and distortion”. Available at www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-andcharters. See also United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (UNESCO), Addressing Anti-Semitism through Education: Guidelines for Policymakers (Paris, 2018). Southern Poverty Law Center, “Holocaust denial”. Available at www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/extremist-files/ideology/holocaust-denial. Ibid. See also International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, “Working definition of holocaust denial and distortion”. See, for example, UNESCO, Addressing Anti-Semitism through Education, and Wistrich, “Introduction: the devil, the Jews, and hatred of the other”.