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Societal Impact of Public Monuments and Memorials to Be Discussed at Helsinki Commission Hearing

Monday, July 27, 2020

WASHINGTON—The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today announced the following online hearing:

HUMAN RIGHTS AT HOME
Values Made Visible

Wednesday, July 29, 2020
10:00 a.m.

Watch Live: www.youtube.com/HelsinkiCommission

Statues, monuments, memorials, and museums—and the events and people they represent—may become societal or even interstate flashpoints. They also have the potential to help heal wounds, educate the public, and inform policymaking as leaders seek to address historic wrongs, bridge divisions, and build a shared future.

As the debate over U.S. statues and memorials intensifies, witnesses at this online hearing will examine what the United States conveys to the world through its public monuments and memorials and discuss how acknowledgment of the past can encourage restitution, reparations, and restorative justice.

The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:

  • Ambassador Lamberto Zannier, former OSCE Secretary General and High Commissioner on National Minorities
  • H.R.H. Maria-Esmeralda of Belgium, journalist and documentary filmmaker
  • Kevin Gover, Acting Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, Smithsonian Institution
  • Dr. Wes Bellamy, author and former Vice-Mayor of Charlottesville, VA

Since its establishment, the Helsinki Commission has championed historical justice throughout the OSCE region. Commissioners have called on public officials to reject Holocaust denial, and acknowledge the Soviet-created famine in Ukraine, genocides in Armenia and Bosnia, and the massacre at Katyn Forest.

The commission also has supported the preservation of sensitive sites of remembrance, including Auschwitz, and supported access to archives. Commissioners have defended the freedom of academics, civil society representatives, and journalists persecuted for telling uncomfortable truths about the past. The commission has supported governments’ and public officials’ efforts to acknowledge past wrongs and heal societal divisions.

Media contact: 
Name: 
Stacy Hope
Email: 
csce[dot]press[at]mail[dot]house[dot]gov
Phone: 
202.225.1901
Relevant issues: 
Minority Rights
Racism
Relevant countries: 
United States of America
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