"IT seems as if we can still hear the dead crying out." These were the words of Israeli President Moshe Katsav yesterday as the world marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Two-thirds of all European Jews were among those murdered in the Holocaust, along with homosexuals, and disabled people.

It is impossible to comprehend how it could have happened, but we must never forget that it happened all too easily.

And we must recognise that tragic events in Darfur, Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda show that such inhumanity is not consigned to history but is part of our present.

Every country has its racists and bigots and every country must guard against the potential for their numbers to grow.

If there is a lesson to learn from Auschwitz it is that the threat within mankind has not gone away: if it could happen then, it could happen now.

That is why it is so important to oppose the erosion of human rights in the name of expediency.

We hope the liberation of Auschwitz is marked long after the last survivors have passed away.

We hope it is marked for generations to come as a reminder of the evil which can spread so easily among human beings.

It is only by recognising the flaws in human nature that we can guard against them.

So we must never stop hearing the dead of the Holocaust crying out.