Ahmed Shaheed on March 2016 Photo by UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

By Jacob Kornbluh May 26, 2022

The United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, released an eight-point action plan Thursday for governments to combat antisemitism. 

“Every government — including in countries where no Jewish communities reside — should adopt a national action plan to combat antisemitism,” Shaheed wrote in the plan. Alternatively, nations should draft blueprints to combat hatred on racial, religious or other grounds as long as they explicitly address antisemitism “and its unique characteristics and manifestations,” Shaheed advised.   

Shaheed, a career diplomat from the Maldives who was appointed to the post in 2016, released a first-of-its-kind report in 2019 that found a “disproportionate” increase in antisemitism across the globe. He recommended countries adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as a “non-legal educational tool” to enable them to identify, monitor and respond to antisemitic discourse and attacks. Some 32 countries have already done so as of last year.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Some critics charge that the IRHA definition of antisemitism is problematic and can be misused for political purposes.

In his plan, Shaheed noted that attacks on Jewish people and sites were committed at record high levels in many countries last year, in addition to a substantial increase in online antisemitism since 2019.

And he claimed that very few governments’ efforts to monitor and report on antisemitic incidents yield “accurate and meaningful” assessments. 

Shaheed suggested governments adopt a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic statements and incidents by its employees, politicians and citizens. Among other actions, the plan calls on countries to enact hate-crimes legislation and promote education about the Holocaust.

The American Jewish Committee welcomed the plan as “an essential roadmap” for governments to ensure that antisemitism is countered comprehensively and effectively.  

Shaheed’s mandate ends later this year.

Action plan on global antis… by Jacob Kornbluh

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount