Holocaust Remembrance and Genocide Prevention: ‘UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights Remain Guiding Principles’
By T. Vishnu Jayaraman
Coinciding with the sixty-third anniversary of the signing of the United Nations (UN) Charter, an engaging and educative panel discussion on genocide prevention, “Saving Succeeding Generations”, was held on 26 June at UN Headquarters in collaboration with the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) Outreach Division and the United Nations University (UNU).
Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, participates an interactive briefing on the genocide prevention entitled "Saving Succeeding Generations" at UN Headquarters. (UN Photo/Evan Schneider)
In his opening remarks at the panel discussion, Under Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka, stated that 63 years ago, in the aftermath of two World Wars and the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, world leaders signed the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco on 26 June 1945. The charter was signed in the hopes of “sav[ing] succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Mr. Akasaka stated that “the basic values enshrined in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remain the guiding principles for our work in the areas of Holocaust remembrance and genocide prevention today.”
Moderating the panel discussion, Eric Falt, Director for Outreach Division of DPI, thanked the panelists for participating and sharing their perspectives on genocide prevention. The panelists included Edward C. Luck, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Robert Rozett, Director of Libraries, Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Bridget Conley-Zilkic, Project Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience, Lawrence Swaider, Chief Information Officer, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Daphna Shraga, Principal Legal Officer, United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, and Joseph Rubagumya, School of International Public Affairs at Columbia University.
According to Mr. Akasaka the fundamental human rights were denied to millions of innocents killed in the Second World War, and to the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust.
Eric Falt, Director of the Outreach Division, DPI moderates the panel discussion at UN Headquarters.(UN Photo/Evan Schneider)
In the wake of the Holocaust, a new word, “genocide”, was coined to describe acts committed with intent to destroy – in whole or in part – a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. On 9 December 1948, one day before the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Genocide Convention.
Mr. Akasaka also read United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the occasion. Mr Ban stated that “preventing genocide is a collective and individual responsibility and I call upon the entire UN system to be empowered to shoulder the responsibility of preventing mass atrocities.” Mr. Ban also underlined that governments, media, religious organizations, civil society groups, and individuals have an important role to play.
While sharing his thoughts about the responsibility of a state to protect its population from genocide and the role played by international organizations, Mr. Luck stated that the Holocaust is marked to remember victims, their families and friends, and also to think about relevant UN policies and tools that can be utilized to make a difference.
Mr. Luck observed that incidences of genocide have gone down in the last 15 years. While individuals can make an enormous difference in protecting citizens, the obligation of an international organization is to effectively prevent genocide. Mr. Luck informed that currently the UN is working on some institutional mechanisms and engaged in continued dialogue with the Member-States to prevent incidents of genocide in future.
Ms. Zilkic stated the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is about those who suffered and died in the Holocaust. Currently, the museum is involved in education, remembrance, and research programmes in addition to speaking out in support of people when threatened with genocide. The museum is also involved in a two-pronged strategy to create awareness about genocide, such as making the governments to understand about genocide, and changing public understanding about the crime thereby preparing them to respond swiftly. Mr. Swaider said that the museum attracts two million visitors every year and approximately 30 million people visited its website this year alone.
Ms. Shraga, Principal Legal Officer at the UN gave a brief overview of the various international courts such as International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), International Court of Justice (ICJ), and International Criminal Court (ICC). She said that a state’s obligation to prevent genocide should extend beyond its own territories.
Talking about how important it is for younger people to support genocide prevention, Mr. Rubagumya recalled how his own family fled to Uganda, to escape violence against Tutsis in Rwanda in the early 1960s, only to suffer from discrimination as refugees. Highlighting the difficulties faced by youths in Rwanda, he said that the Government has been bringing students from different parts of Africa and Europe to share their experiences and to prevent future conflict.
While presenting cases of rescue during the Holocaust, Mr. Rozett recounted three rescue events from the early 1940s. They included rescue of a man by his neighbor during mass murder of the Jews, prevention of mass deportation, and how an 11-year old boy, who lost his mother and separated from his sister during the Holocaust, survived the ordeal on a farm.
The concluding event, a two-part series of discussion panels on genocide prevention, emphasized the link between the goals and values of the UN and its mandated activities in the areas of Holocaust remembrance and genocide prevention. The first event, organized on 12 June, featured Dr. David Hamburg’s latest book “Preventing Genocide: Practical Steps toward Early Detection and Effective Action.” Speakers including Dr. Francis Deng, Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and Dr. Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning and Policy Coordination in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, participated in the event.
