CRI听力:World Being Tested Again as 70th Anni. of Auschwitz Liberation Marked

Flowers are laid in front of a commemorative stone to pay tribute to Holocaust victims at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, Jan. 27, 2015. Participants of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe attended a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. [Photo: Xinhua/Lu Suyan]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is warning that the international community is again being tested by increasing anti-Semitic hatred.

Ban made the remarks as the world body marks the 70th anniversary since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

CRI's UN correspondent Su Yi has more.

World Being Tested Again as 70th Anni. of Auschwitz Liberation Marked 

The ceremony was rescheduled for Wednesday because of a snowstorm forecast to hit New York earlier in the week.

The UN chief is urging the international community to remain vigilant to eradicate the deep roots of hatred as anti-Semitic attacks continue around the world.

"As we remember what was lost in the past, and as we recognize the perils of the present, we know what we must do – and we know we must do it together."

The International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust is marked every year on January 27, the date when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated in 1945.

Ban Ki-moon says the world is still often tested by similar hatred.

"Anti-Semitism remains a violent reality; Jews continue to be killed solely because they are Jews. Extremism and dehumanization are present across the world, exploited through social media and abetted by sensationalist press coverage. The targets are as diverse as humankind itself."

Ban has pledged to uphold the principles of the UN.

In addressing the ceremony, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin says the pledge of "never again" is the very essence of the UN.

"We must remember that evil is not the property of any specific religion just as it is not the attribute of any specific country or ethnic group. Evil by its very nature seeks to differentiate and discriminate between one life and another, between one human and another, where the only real difference is between good and bad, between humanity and darkness."

This year's observance coincides with other milestone events as 2015 also marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the founding of the UN.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi in New York.