Tom Lantos asked Kofi Annan to declare a special U.N. session in memory of the Holocaust. Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor who is a member of the U.S. Congress, represented a major lobbying effort by the United States and Europe to conduct a special session Jan. 24 in memory of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps. Lantos sponsored one of two letters in Congress calling on the U.N. secretary general to mark the occasion with a special session. Annan received those letters, along with a letter from the European Union, on Friday, and has 30 days to get a majority of member states to support the move. Annan “thinks it’s a very important occasion and is now waiting for member states for their response,” said his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
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