The Stockholm Declaration on Genocide Prevention. The following Declaration by 55 Governments was announced at the Closing Ceremony of the Stockholm International Forum: "Preventing Genocide; Threats and Responsibilities" an intergovernmental conference held January 26 to 28, 2004. The conference in Stockholm was the first major intergovernmental conference on this subject since the UN adopted the Genocide Convention in 1948. Prime Minister of Sweden Göran Persson invited representatives from governments of 58 states to participate in the Stockholm conference. The conference was the fourth and final in a series of intergovernmental conferences. The first conference in January 2000, "The Holocaust", was a historic assembly of world leaders, resulting in the "Stockholm Declaration on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research." The two subsequent conferences were titled "Combating Intolerance" (2001) and "The Conference on Truth, Justice and Reconciliation" (2002). (View a webcast of the Closing Ceremony where the Declaration was read )

Invited Nations

Governmental Representatives

Other Participants

The Swedish Delegation

The Holocaust, as reaffirmed by the Stockholm International Forum Declaration of January 2000, challenged the foundations of human civilization. Recalling our responsibility to fight the evils of genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-Semitism, islamophobia and xenophobia, we, the participants of the Stockholm International Forum 2004: Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities, conscious of our obligations and responsibilities under international law including human rights and international humanitarian law, deeply concerned with the repeated occurrence of genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing in recent history as well as with the widespread occurrence of impunity for such crimes, are committed to doing our utmost for the prevention of these scourges in order to build a more secure future for us all.

To this end we declare that:

1. We are committed to using and developing practical tools and mechanisms to identify as early as possible and to monitor and report genocidal threats to human life and society in order to prevent the recurrence of genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing.

2. We are committed to shouldering our responsibility to protect groups identified as potential victims of genocide, mass murder or ethnic cleansing, drawing upon the range of tools at our disposal to prevent such atrocities in accordance with international law and fully upholding the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

3. We are committed to ensuring that perpetrators of genocidal acts are brought to justice. We are also committed to supporting survivors of genocide to rebuild their communities and to return to normal life.

4. We are committed to supporting research into the possibilities of preventing genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing.

5. We are committed to educating the youth and the wider public against genocidal dangers of all kinds through formal and informal educational structures. We are also committed to disseminating knowledge of these dangers to those involved in government, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, humanitarian and peace support operations and the media.

6. We are committed to exploring, seriously and actively, the options presented at the Forum for action against genocidal threats, mass murders, deadly conflicts, ethnic cleansing as well as genocidal ideologies and incitement to genocide, including the concrete proposals presented by the United Nations Secretary-General. [Read Proposals ]

7. We are committed to cooperating in our search for effective measures against genocidal dangers with all members of the family of nations, in the United Nations and other relevant global and regional organizations as well as with non-governmental organizations, labour organizations, the media and with business and academic communities.

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Invited Nations:

Albania Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bosnia-Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Cambodia Canada Chile Croatia Cyprus Denmark

Egypt Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary India Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latvia Liechtenstein

Lithuania Luxemburg Macedonia Malta Moldova Morocco New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Rwanda Serbia and Montenegro

Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Switzerland The Czech Republic The Netherlands The United Kingdom The Vatican City Timor-Leste Turkey Ukraine United States of America Uruguay

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Governmental Representatives, including four Presidents (Albania, Latvia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste), four Prime Ministers (Armenia, Lithuania, Romania and Sweden) and seven Ministers of Justice (Canada, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Malta and South Africa)

Albania - President Alfred Moisiu [Speech] [Photos] Argentina - Secretary of State of Foreign Relations, Jorge Taiana Armenia - Prime Minister Andranic Margaryan Australia -Ambassador Richard Rowe Austria - Ambassador Wolfgang Benedek Belgium - Ambassador Raoul Delcorde [Speech in French] Poland - Under-Secretary of State, Jakob Wolski Bosnia-Herzegovina - Chair of the Cabinet Zeliana Zovko [Speech] Brazil - Ambassador Elim Dutra Bulgaria - Minister of European Affairs, Meglena Kueva [Note] Cambodia Canada - Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler Chile - Ambassador Pepe Auth Croatia - Ms. Željana Zovko, Chief of the Cabinet of the Croat Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Cyprus - Minister of Labor, Iacovos Keravnos [Speech] Czech Republic - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavel Vosalik Denmark - Minister of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs Bertel Haarder [Website] Egypt - Ambassador Mohamed El Dorghamy Estonia - Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs, Paul-Eerik Rummo Finland - Minister of Justice Johannes Koskinen [Speech] France - Minister of Justice Dominique Perben [Speech in French] Germany - Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Affairs Kerstin Mueller [Speech] Ghana - Foreign Minister, H E Nana Akufo-Addo Greece - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andreas Loverdos [Speech] Hungary - Minister of Justice Péter Bárándy India - Ambassador Chitra Narayan Iceland - HE Minister of Justice Björn Bjarnoson [Speech] Ireland - T.D. Miniter of State John Browne Israel -Nimrod Barkan of the Israel Foreign Ministry's Diaspora division Italy - Under Secretary of State Margherita Boniver [Website] Japan - Ambassador Tomio Uchida [Website]

Latvia -President Vaira Vike-Freiberga [Speech] Liechtenstein Lithuania - Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas [Speech] Luxembourg - Minister of Cooperation Charles Goerens Macedonia - Ambassador Martin Trenevski Malta - Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Tonio Borg Moldova Morocco - Minister of Human Rights Mohammed Aujjar Netherlands - Ambassador Frederick Racké New Zealand Norway - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vidar Helgesen [Speech] Poland - Under-Secretary of State, Jakob Wolski Portugal - Ambassador João Pedro Zanatti Romania - Prime Minister Adrian Nastase Russia - Minister Vladimir Zorin [Speech PDF file in Russian] Rwanda - President Paul Kagame [Speech] Serbia and Montenegro - Ambassador Dejan Vasiljevic Slovakia - Deputy Prime Minister Pál Csáky [Speech] Slovenia - Minister of Justice Ivo Bizjaks South Africa - Minister of Justice Penuell Mpapa Maduna Spain - Ambassador Alvaro Ozores Sweden - Prime Minister Göran Persson [Opening Speech] [Closing Speech] Switzerland - State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Blaise Godet [Website] Timor-Leste - President Xanana Gusmão Turkey - Ambassador Tomur Nayer Ukraine - Vice Prime Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk [Speech] United Kingdom - Bill Rammell, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State at the UK Foreign Office [Speech] United States of America - Ambassador of War Crimes Issues, Pierre-Richard Prosper [Speech] [Website] Uruguay - Chief of Staff Raúl Lago Vatican City - Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations [Speech]

Other participants:

Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General [Speech ] [ Website ]
Hans Blix, Chairman of the International Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission
Jean-Christian Cady, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Deputy Special Representative in Kosovo
Rolf Ekéus, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities [Website]
Amb. Christian Strohal, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutins and Human Rights [Website]
Jakob Kellenberger, Secretary-General International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Phillippe Krisch, President of the International Criminal Court
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court
Pierre Sané, Assistant Director General of UNESCO
Javier Solana, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union [Speech]

Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland
Lloyd Axworthy, former Foreign Minister of Canada
Dr. Brigalia Bam, chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa
Gareth Evans, former Foreign Minister of Australia, President of International Crisis Group
Bernard Kouchner , former head of the UN mission UNMIK in Kosovo and founder of Médecins sans Frontières
Dr Elisabeth Rehn, former Minister of Defence of Finland
Represtentative Jim Leach (Republican, Iowa) [Speech] [Website]
Gordon Smith, US Senator (Republican, Oregon) [Website]
Yehuda Bauer, Senior academic adviser to the Stockholm Forum, Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem

Ambassador Alyson Bailes, Director of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [Website] [Official Summary Report]
Gerry Caplan [Website]
Yigal Carmon President, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Frank Chalk, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), Concordia University, Canada [Website]
Ted Robert Gurr, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland [Website]
Barbara Harff, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland [Website]
Dr. Tarek Heggy, Political and socio-economic thinker, petroleum strategist, and a visiting professor at many universities [Website]
Samantha Power, Carr Center, Harvard University, author of the 2002 'A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide' [Speech Stockholm City Hall, Jan. 26, 2004]
Dr Carol Rittner, RSM (USA), a Roman Catholic nun (Religious Sisters of Mercy), Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
David Scheffer, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center (USA) [Speech]
Elie Wiesel, Boston Univeristy, 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace laureate [Website]
Esther Mujawayo
Eva Fried
Herbert Hirch, Professor of Political Science,Virginia Commonwealth University [Details]
Dr. James Smith, Aegis Trust [Website]
Dr Stephen Smith MBE, Aegis Trust [Website]

The Swedish delegation is led by Prime Minister Göran Persson and consisted of:
Ambassador Jan Eliasson, Sweden's Ambassador to the United States [Website]
Laila Freivalds, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Pär Nuder, Minister for Policy Coordination
Hans Blix, Chairman of the International Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission
Thomas Hammarberg, Secretary General for the Olof Palme International Center
Helene Lööw, Director of the Living History Forum
Maria Norrfalk, Director General of SIDA
Jasenko Selimovic, Artistic Director for the Gothenburg City Theatre
Tony Stigsson, General Major of the Swedish Armed Forces
Karin Söder, former Minister for Foreign Affairs
Thomas Bodström, Minister of Justice
Per Westerberg, First Deputy Speaker
Catherine von Heidenstam, Head of Protocol
Mrs Lisbeth Palme

His Majesty the King Carl XVI Gustaf ( Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus)
Her Majesty the Queen Silvia Sommerlath
H. R. H. The Crown Princess Victoria

For more information see:

Selected news reports on the 2004 Stockholm International Forum

Declaration by the Stockholm International Forum 2004  PDF file (one page) on the Conference website.

Stockholm International Forum: "Preventing Genocide; Threats and Responsiblities"

Kofi Annan's Stockholm Genocide Prevention Proposals, January 26, 2004 In Stockholm, Sweden on January 26, 2004 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls for parties to the Genocide Convention to establish a Genocide Prevention Committee and a UN Special Rapporteur on Genocide Prevention.

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the U.N. General Assembly on 9 December 1948. Entry into force: 12 January 1951.