UNITED NATIONS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- A commemoration ceremony was held at the UN headquarters on Monday to remember the deadly attack 25 years ago on Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), a Jewish community center located in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
The 1994 bomb attack killed 85 people and injured over 300 others, making it the deadliest attack in the country to date. All the dead were Argentine nationals, some of them of Jewish belief.
At the ceremony, UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces called upon the international community to strengthen collective answer to "this scourge that does not respect borders or any religion."
In doing so, she said the international community should maintain "our unshakable commitment to respect for human rights and the dignity of all people."
Meanwhile, "it's fundamental that we focus on the deep seated causes of terrorism and violent extremism," she said. "We cannot allow the propagation of hateful discourse or racism or discrimination of any kind or xenophobia. Intolerance only feeds fear and divides us all."
The ceremony was organized by the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the United Nations and chaired by Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations Martin Garcia Moritan.
According to the Argentine envoy, a photo exhibition in commemoration of the tragedy will be held at the Argentine mission to the United Nations, starting on Thursday.
Besides Espinosa, the speakers included Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, Undersecretary-General for UN Counter-Terrorism Office Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov, AMIA President Ariel Eichbaum and President of the World Jewish Congress for North America Evelyn Sommer.
Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov said the United Nations stands in solidarity with the victims and their families, whose lives and futures were changed forever on that day.
He announced his office will also convene the first-ever global congress of victims of terrorism next year, which will bring together victims, UN member states, and experts in civil society to discuss issues of importance to victims, and come out with a set of concrete recommendations.
He also announced the Group of Friends of Victims of Terrorism, co-chaired by Afghanistan and Spain, and comprising a significant number of member states, will be launched Tuesday.
Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie said the Jewish community in Argentina, one of the largest in the world, is an energetic part of its social, academic, culture and economic life.
He stressed the attack was not only a strike against the Jewish community of Buenos Aires. "It was a strike against the Argentinian people, democracy and freedom," he said.
"On one hand, we are keeping alive the memory of the victims, their pain, but also we are here to demand justice, pursuing our indefatigable work, toward receiving the justice," he said. Until today, accountability remains to be established in the bombing.
At the ceremony, a video was played to show the scenes of the attack and its immediate and far-reaching impact on the lives of the Argentine people.
An accordionist and a violinist played commemorative music at both the beginning and the end of the ceremony. A candle was lit by each speaker after they made their remarks.
