Prime minister joins thousands in signing Anne Frank Declaration

The prime minister has showed his continuing support for Holocaust education by signing the Anne Frank Declaration at 10 Downing Street.

The declaration was written by the Anne Frank Trust UK in 1998 and seeks to remind us what can happen when prejudice and hatred go unchallenged. 

Speaking at the annual Downing Street Chanukah reception, prime minister David Cameron said: “We will go on doing everything we can, with the Anne Frank Trust and others, to fight prejudice and discrimination and persecution in our country”.

Since 1998, the Anne Frank Declaration has been signed up to by world leaders including the late South African president Nelson Mandela, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, and former US president Bill Clinton. 

Hundreds of British political and civic leaders, as well as more than 10,000 school children have also signed the declaration.

The signers all receive a credit card-sized version of the declaration to carry with them as a reminder.

During 2014, the Anne Frank Trust has run its educational programmes, aimed at combatting prejudice and discrimination, for more than 28,000 young people in 68 schools. 

It also expanded its regional work into the West Midlands, meaning the Trust now works across six regions in England as well as covering the whole of Scotland.

A recent independent evaluation of its educational work showed that 92 per cent of young people who go through its peer education training programme have “a greater recognition of the dangers of prejudice” while 88 per cent “strongly thought that students had become more respectful and more likely to challenge discriminatory behaviour”.

The Trust also offers a range of downloadable resources, including materials linked to Generation Diary, a year-long project that is seeking to build the biggest collective digital diary in the world. The online diary is being written by UK teenagers aged from 13 to 15 – the ages during which Anne Frank wrote her own famous diary. 

For more on the educational work and programmes of the Anne Frank Trust, visit www.annefrank.org.uk

For more on Generation Diary, see www.generationdiary.org.uk

The Anne Frank Declaration

Anne Frank is a symbol of the millions of innocent children who have been victims of persecution. Anne’s life shows us what can happen when prejudice and hatred go unchallenged.

Because prejudice and hatred harm us all, we declare that: 

• We will stand up for what is right and support those who speak out against what is unfair and wrong. 

• We will try to defend the rights of those who cannot defend themselves.

• We will strive for a world in which everyone is treated fairly and has an equal chance in life.