The General Assembly has designated January 27 as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

The resolution, which is the first in the United Nations' 60-year history relating to the Holocaust, was adopted by consensus November 1.  Initial drafters of the resolution  -- Australia, Canada, Israel, Russia and the United States -- were joined by 100 nations in sponsoring the resolution in the assembly.

The resolution urges all nations to develop ways to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive so that future generations will help prevent similar acts of genocide.

January 27 currently is recognized officially as a day of remembrance for Holocaust victims in several countries because it marks the day in 1945 when the Soviet army liberated the largest Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland.  In January 2005, the U.N. General Assembly held a special session to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

Introducing the resolution, Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman, himself the descendant of Holocaust victims, said that "while the Holocaust was a unique tragedy for the Jewish people, its lessons are universal."

"It brought us face to face with the full extent of man's capacity for inhumanity to his fellow man.  It revealed the potential to pervert technology, philosophy, culture, and ideology to commit acts on an unimaginable scale and with an unthinkable degree of cruelty," Gillerman said.

"As the generation of Holocaust survivors and liberators dwindles, the torch of remembrance, of bearing witness, and of education must continue forward," the Israeli ambassador said.

The Holocaust has been a critical impetus for the development of human rights, the drafting of landmark international conventions such as the U.N. Genocide Convention, and for the establishment of the United Nations, which was founded to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and protect the dignity and worth of the human person.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the resolution "is the most fitting tribute we can pay in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and reflects the core values and principles upon which the United Nations was founded."

The lessons of the Holocaust "are no less relevant today," Bolton said.

In an apparent reference to recent comments made by government leaders in Iran, Bolton said that "when a president or a member state can brazenly and hatefully call for a second Holocaust by suggesting that Israel, the Jewish homeland, should be wiped off the map, it is clear that not all have learned the lessons of the Holocaust and that much work remains to be done.

"And when some member states shamefully hesitate to decisively condemn such remarks, it is clear that much work remains to be done," the U.S. ambassador said.  "That is why the resolution before us today is so important."

The text of the resolution "rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event either in full or part" and "condemns without reserve all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief wherever they occur."

It also asks the secretary-general to establish an outreach program entitled "The Holocaust and the United Nations" and other measures to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the assembly's decision saying that the annual commemoration will be "an important reminder of the universal lessons of the Holocaust, a unique evil which cannot simply be consigned to the past and forgotten."