April 20, 2010 New York — Genocide has claimed more human lives than all the wars of the 20th century combined. It has never been stopped; but we believe it can be prevented. The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) takes the never-before-tried approach of training policymakers to thwart genocide *before* it occurs. We do this by bringing them to the Holocaust site of Auschwitz for UN-approved instruction by leading genocide scholars as well as policy practitioners who have actually lived through genocide.
Our recent conference “Memory, Justice, Truth and Reparations as Tools for Genocide Prevention” took place April 12-14 in Buenos Aires, bringing together some of the world’s most committed and effective opponents of genocide to usher in a new and promising approach to combating a problem as old as humanity itself. Fittingly, the event was co-organized by the Government of Argentina, site of the “Dirty War” of the 1970s and 1980s in which up to 30,000 people were “disappeared” by the military dictatorship, leading to the founding of the groundbreaking Madres de Plaza de Mayo, as well as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, who were represented at this historic conference. Today, Argentina is a model of transitional justice, an example of the societal healing and institutional rebuilding that can take place in the wake of decades of violent conflict.
On the third day of the conference we presented our first annual Raphael Lemkin Prize to Juan Méndez, President Emeritus of the International Center for Transitional Justice, and Carla Del Ponte, former chief
prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The AIPR, through its Raphael Lemkin Center for the Prevention of Genocide, awards this prize in recognition of outstanding contribution to the cause of genocide prevention.
What makes the AIPR’s approach so unique? Over the past decade and a half, in the wake of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, citizen activism against genocide has blossomed. Besides the now well-established general
human-rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, there is now an encouraging abundance of grassroots campaigns against genocide, including the Genocide Intervention Network (and its student branch, STAND), the Enough Project, and Save Darfur. But on the elite level, little has changed.
The most powerful long-term effect of the AIPR’s approach is the creation of a worldwide network of policymakers with the tools and the commitment to prevent genocide and other forms of violent conflict. Now, for the first time, a veteran of the Dirty War in Argentina can trade with his or her colleagues from Burundi, say, or East Timor, not only his or her experience with the personal and societal trauma of genocide, but also the perspective “from the other end,” on building policies and institutional barriers to future conflicts that may explode into genocide once again.
We are available to speak about the Auschwitz Institute and our unique approach in relation to news about any genocide (or violent conflict) past or present — Darfur, Bosnia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Cambodia, Rwanda, East Timor, Sri Lanka, Congo, Armenia, Burma/Myanmar.
Contacts:
Tibi Galis, AIPR executive director
212 794 9760, 503 928 0091
tibi.galis@auschwitzinstitute.org
Also available for interview:
Natalia Luterstein, Ministry of Justice, Argentina:
nluterstein@derhuman.jus.gov.ar
Teresa Barroso, Special Secretariat for Human Rights, Brazil:
teresa.barroso@mj.gov.br
Memunatu Pratt, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sierra Leone:
pratt.memunatu@gmail.com
Check out the Daily Tell’s interview of Alex Zucker and Tibi Galis of the Auschwitz Institute of Peace and Reconciliation
We are concerned about Iran’s President’s incitement to Genocide against Israel and it’s people. Are there any Congressional hearings being done on this or related legislation? In 2007 there was H.Con. Res. 21 which passed the House but never made it to the Senate.
Another concern I have personally is the evolution of biotechnology and its capacity for targeting specific genetic profiles. In 1997 there was a British report (the Lancet?) warning of this capacity within the next 3 to 5 years. Given the exponential growth of this technology…this threat should be looked at in detail.
Please respond to my email address above and “RAhellman@cipaconline.org”
Thank you for your attention to this request.
chuck woolery
former Chair, United Nations Association Council of Organizations
former Issues Director, Global Health Council
former Issues Director, World Federalist Association.
Abolishment of Genocide –
Civilocity is a form of government where the people watch the ruler entirely amongst their reign. I wonder if Anne Frank would have included civilocity in her second book if she had known what it is? Well if she didn’t she would allow what happened to her to happen to someone else. What civilocity is to you is a word what it is to her is a breath.
If Anne Frank didn’t write about civilocity she would be allowing what happened to her to happen to someone else in Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Cambodia after it happened to her. It is almost like Anne Frank wrote about the wrong thing and the holocaust survivors are writing about the wrong thing and The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation are writing about the wrong thing and you The Daily Tell are writing about the wrong thing.