A/72/291
the parliament had taken part in another memorial on 16 March that honoured
Latvian soldiers who collaborated with Nazi forces.
72. The Latvian Human Rights Committee recalled that events and memorials for
anti-Nazi fighters were facing increased pressure in Latvia. In August 2016, a
monument in the town of Limbazi to Soviet navy soldiers who had peri shed in 1941
was destroyed, on the initiative of Daugavas vanagi Latvija, a local non-governmental
organization and the agreement of the municipality. In the annual report of the
security police for 2016, issued in April 2017, reference was made to the uno fficial
celebrations of the Day of Victory over Nazi Germany as being threats to national
security and promoting “Russia-created historical memory”.
73. The Latvian Human Rights Committee stressed the importance of the strong
condemnation of any form of discourse honouring collaboration with Nazi Germany
or smearing those who fought against Nazism. The Committee suggested that
government ministers and coalition members of parliament should refrain from
participating in events honouring Nazi collaborators and that they not hinder
anti-fascist and anti-Nazi protests. In conclusion, the Committee stressed that the
Government of Latvia should be vigorous and consistent in prosecuting cases of
hate speech while continuing to respect the freedom of speech.
E.
Tsedaka Foundation
74. The Tsedaka Foundation, also known as the Foundation of the Holocaust
Survivors, has informed the Special Rapporteur that there has been an increase in
the level of xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other manifestations of intolerance in
Bulgaria. Particularly worrying was the revival of Nazi ideas, together with the
glorification of fascism and its symbols in the country. The Foundation referred to
the so-called “Lukov march”, a procession of young men dressed in black and
carrying torches, in memory of General Lukov, leader of the Union of Bulgarian
National Legions, an extreme nationalist, fascist and anti-Semitic organization
active in the 1930s and 1940s. The “Lukov march” continue s to take place, despite
the fact that the Mayor of Sofia has denied the group permission to do so.
75. The Tsedaka Foundation has stressed that the glorification of Nazism and
Fascism is a complex phenomenon that also relates to the current situation of
uncertainty, given that, for many disillusioned young men, fascist and neo-Nazi
ideas appear to provide an alternative to the current instability and a way to oppose
the growing migration flows affecting the European continent and protect national
values and national identity. For the Foundation, however, su ch perceptions are
exceptionally dangerous, threatening the foundations of the otherwise traditionally
tolerant Bulgarian community.
76. The Tsedaka Foundation indicated that efforts were being made to glorify
politicians from the period when Bulgaria had been an ally of Nazi Germany and to
present their actions as “patriotic” and as “defending national interests”. The
Foundation has also observed that efforts have been made to idealize the situation of
the Jews in Bulgaria during the time of the anti-Semitic laws and to belittle their
suffering, as well as to minimize the role of the pro -Nazi Bulgarian Government in
the deportation of Jews from northern Greece and south Yugoslavia in 1943. Those
were attempts to distort the past and to rewrite history, with no adequate reactions
from the part of the Bulgarian authorities.
16/21
17-13411