Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to start by thanking my colleague, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium, for his initiative in organizing this important conference on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.
The prevention of genocide is a moral imperative for the international community. And we must prevent it by better addressing the current challenges, by raising awareness of its root causes, and by enhancing the tools we have at our disposal to prevent its recurrence.
The history of humankind is rife with instances of extreme violence and organized cruelty against individuals, but the worst excesses of such violence were witnessed by the global community in the 20th century.
It was the Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin – himself a victim of the holocaust –who in 1944 named this ‘’nameless crime’’ genocide, capturing the mass destruction of population groups on grounds of their identity. And his efforts contributed toward the adoption, on 9 December 1948, of a visionary legal instrument: the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
This Convention, together with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which was adopted the following day by the UN General Assembly, was hailed at that time as a triumph of international law in the new post-war order.
One of the primary objectives of the Convention was the eradication of genocide through its prevention. The Contracting States recognized the need for international cooperation to put an end to such crimes and affirmed their will to bring perpetrators to justice.
But the adoption of the Genocide Convention and the criminalization of genocide was followed, during the rest of the 20th century, by new tragedies in many parts of the world, including acts of genocide that cost the lives of millions of people, forcing still more persons to flee their homes.
In legal terms, proof of the commission of genocide presents enormous challenges and complexities, and in most cases genocide is recognized only ex post facto. The history of mass atrocities, that is, is one of “doing too little, too late.”
That is why focusing on prevention has proved to be the best course of action.
In 2005, 11 years after the Rwandan genocide, UN Member States accepted that the international community has the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. And the strategy put forward by the UN Secretary-General in 2009 was based on three pillars: primary State responsibility to protect its people, international assistance and capacity-building to support States to discharge their responsibility, and timely and decisive response by the international community, in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter.
In the following years, prevention on the national, regional and international level has emerged as the most critical aspect of the strategy to avoid the occurrence of mass atrocities, including genocide.
Effective preventative action includes, first of all, identifying and addressing the root causes of genocide. Genocide and related atrocities are more likely to occur in societies marked by identity-related conflicts and their implications (discrimination, marginalization, stigmatization, exclusion, de-humanization), and they are fomented by hate speech and incitement to violence against specific groups.
Constructive management of diversity, inclusivity, respect for fundamental rights and democratic values is, therefore, the most effective form of prevention.
At the national level, states have the responsibility to build institutions and structures that are based on legitimacy and the rule of law: institutions that have the capacity to defuse tension and respond effectively to acts of incitement to violence that could lead to mass atrocities.
Policies that challenge stereotypes, foster social cohesion and solidarity, promote inclusivity and counter hate speech should be established. And civil society can also play an important role in raising awareness, fighting against stereotypes, and advocating appropriate responses to discriminatory practices.
The Rwandan experience demonstrated, in the worst possible way, how the media can be used by the planners and organizers of genocide to dehumanize potential victims, coordinate the killings, and promote the execution of extermination plans.
Thus, the development of ethical standards and structures for internal self-regulation by the media can contribute substantially to preventing dissemination of any advocacy of national, racial and religious hatred that could lead to incitement to hostility and violence.
I would also like to emphasize the importance of the role of international criminal justice in the prevention of genocide; that is, holding individual perpetrators accountable for such crimes. The criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as well as the tribunals for Sierra Leone and Cambodia, have played an essential role in developing international criminal law and making the concept of prevention a reality.
Likewise, the role of the International Criminal Court is critical – not just in imposing of sanctions, but also in preventing crimes that fall within its jurisdiction, including genocide, through the deterrence effect of the Court on potential perpetrators. The complementary character of the Court, combined with its ability to intervene – not after the fact, but in ongoing conflicts and situations of mass violations of international humanitarian and human rights law – can effectively deter potential perpetrators of mass atrocities. Universal participation in and effective implementation of its Statute is, therefore, crucial to ending impunity and preventing future crimes.
Ladies and Gentleman,
The challenge before the World community today is to move urgently from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention. We believe that this Conference provides an excellent opportunity for a systematic and comprehensive analysis of how to prevent genocide by identifying those measures that can be adopted both nationally and at the international level to enable the world community to effectively confront, react to and pre-empt this phenomenon.
This Conference is a timely one, as participants can also take a look at new situations around the world in which genocidal tendencies seem to be unfolding (such as in the Central African Republic). We need to prove to the people in these countries that the lofty declaration ‘’never again’’ is not an empty mantra. We also owe this to the past victims of genocide and to survivors who, despite their suffering, went on living in human dignity without giving up hope for a just and more civilized world.
I thank you.
April 1, 2014