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Supplement
to the Global
News Monitor for January 2004
Selected news reports on the Stockholm International Forum,
January 26 to 28, 2004
Embassy of Sweden www.swedenabroad.se
21 Nov 2003
Stockholm International Forum 2004
The Stockholm International Forum: Preventing Genocide; Threats and Responsibilities
will be held on 26-28 January 2004. Representatives of some 60 governments
have been invited to Stockholm by Prime Minister Göran Persson to discuss
key issues of a humanitarian, political and moral nature relating to genocide.
This will be the fourth and final one in the series of Stockholm International
Forum. Previous conferences explored the past and present. www.motfolkmord.com
Prime Minister's Office Press release http://statsradsberedningen.regeringen.se
15 December 2003
Stockholm International Forum
Stig Berglind Media Director +46 8-405 28 95 +46 70-668 73 33 Accreditation
for Stockholm International Forum: Preventing Genocide 26-28 January 2004
Unofficial translation Representatives for the media who wish to cover the
international conference about preventing genocide on 26-28 January next
year can now fill in the accreditation application on the conference’s website
(www.motfolkmord.com). The application is to be submitted no later than
9 January 2004. The conference will be the fourth and last in the Stockholm
International Forum series that began in 2000 with the conference on the
Holocaust. Representatives for close to 60 governments and international
organisations have been invited to Stockholm by Prime Minister Göran Persson,
as well as a large number of academics, researchers and other experts.
The conference in Stockholm will be the first major intergovernmental conference
on this subject since the UN adopted its Convention against Genocide in
1948. It will be held at Stockholm City Conference Centre at Norra Latin
and Folkets Hus in Stockholm. A brochure containing general information
has been prepared (in Swedish and English) and can be ordered using the
e-mail address: sb.mediaforum2004@primeminister.ministry.se
UN News Centre 15 Jan 2004
Annan to seek help of business leaders at Davos in promoting equitable
globalization
15 January 2004 – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will seek
to recruit business leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, next week in what he sees as the crucial task of making globalization
work for the world's people. Five years ago in Davos, Mr. Annan launched
a Global Compact aimed at involving the private sector in upgrading environmental,
labour and human rights conditions. According to UN officials, during his
keynote address to the Forum on 20 January, the Secretary-General will laud
progress achieved since then while warning that the current critical juncture
in international affairs requires continued efforts to build an open, rules-based
global economy that works for the world's people. Towards that end, he will
enlist the intensified help of the business community. The Davos speech
will come on the second day of a 12-day, seven-city, European trip set to
begin on Monday evening, when Mr. Annan will arrive in Baden-Baden, Germany,
a UN spokesman announced today. He will receive the German Media Prize on
Wednesday and hold talks with the country's Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer.
After the World Economic Forum, Mr. Annan will travel to Stockholm, where
on 25 January, he will meet the Prime Minister. The following day he will
address the opening of the Stockholm International Forum 2004 - Preventing
Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities. In Paris the following day,
the Secretary-General is scheduled to attend a working luncheon hosted by
French President Jacques Chirac and to address a Global Compact meeting.
On 28 January, Mr. Annan will be in Brussels for meetings with the NATO
Secretary-General, the European Union College of Commissioners, the European
Commission President and the Irish European Union Presidency. The following
day, he will receive the Sakharov Prize at a European Parliament ceremony.
After that he has meetings scheduled with top Belgian officials. Still in
Belgium that Friday, the Secretary-General will be receiving an honorary
doctorate awarded to him last year by the University of Gent. On his final
stop, in Geneva, Mr. Annan has meetings scheduled with President Luis Inacio
Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Chirac. He will also meet - separately
and later jointly - with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President
Paul Biya of Cameroon.
Nordic News Network 16 Jan 2004 www.nnn.se
Genocide Victims Accused of Genocide - [excepts] Al Burke
“Politically impossible” to focus on crimes of United States and allies
at Stockholm International Forum— but little Laos is a different story The
government of Laos is accused of committing genocide against that country’s
Hmong ethnic minority in a well-publicized exhibition scheduled to run from
17 January to 7 February 2004 at Sweden’s National Museum of History in
Stockholm. Entitled, “Making Differences”, the exhibition is being presented
as a “cultural” complement to the Stockholm International Forum to be held
during 26-28 January. That event is the fourth and last in series which
has focused on genocide and related issues, all at the initiative of Prime
Minister Göran Persson and financed by his government. The stated theme
of the final Forum is “Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities”,
and the relevance of the exhibition is explained as follows: “It has been
said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. . . . ’Making
Differences’ will make sure that we do not forget.” The featured component
of the exhibition is a series of photographs purporting to depict the “extermination”
of the Hmong by the Lao government. They were taken in early 2003 by Australian
photographer Philip Blenkinsop during a three-day visit to a small group
of Hmong in northern Laos. The photos have previously been exhibited
in other countries. . . In short, a nation that has itself been subjected
to genocide is now being accused of committing that crime against one of
its minorities, on the basis of an ethnic conflict that is a bizarre remnant
of the genocidal war conducted by the United States. Similarly, the Historical
Museum’s exhibition also includes a set of photos depicting the takeover
of Cambodia in 1975 by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Asked whether the exhibit
would include information about the strong support provided to the Khmer
Rouge by the United States, England and China - even long after the full
extent of the genocide had been disclosed - project director Thomas Nordanstad
replied, “Unfortunately not.” These circumstances appear to substantiate
criticisms of Prime Minister Persson’s costly project as heavily biased
on behalf of Western powers, especially the United States. Daniel Brandell,
Martin Linde and Åsa Linderborg are the names of three Swedish historians
who in a joint article have argued that, “The pro-West tendency is obvious.
'Evil’ is consistently located outside the sphere of the West’s liberal-capitalistic
civilization. Suggestions to take up the crimes of Western colonialism,
the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the like have simply been omitted from
the agenda of the Stockholm International Forum. Likewise, there has not
been the slightest reference to the enormous massacres that have been committed
in recent decades by Western superpowers and/or their proxies (for example,
in Indochina, East Timor, southern Africa and Central America).” Asked to
address this type of criticism, Ambassador Krister Kumlin, Secretary-General
of the Stockholm International Forum, first replied that he did not understand
the question. “What are you trying to say?” he asked. Pressed further to
explain how it was possible to justify an exhibition which accuses Laos
of a genocide it has not committed, while ignoring the well-documented genocide
to which it has been subjected, Amb. Kulin finally said, “Of course, you
know it is politically impossible to address such issues.”
Addis Tribune (Addis Ababa) January 23, 2004
A three-day international forum entitled "Preventing Genocide: Threats
And Responsibility" is scheduled to open in Stockholm next Monday.
According to a release from the Swedish Embassy here, the Prime Minister
of Sweden, Goran Persson, had invited some 60 heads of state and government
to Stockhom for the fourth Stockholm International Forum which would address
some of the most acute humanitarian, political and moral challenges facing
the international community; The release said that the conference would
be the last of the Stockholm Forum series. The first, which took place in
January 2000, was a historic assembly of world leaders, resulting in the
"Stockholm Declaration on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research."
The two subsequent conferences "Combating Intolerance" (2001)
and "The Conference on Truth, Justice and Reconciliation" (2002),
continued the essential international discussios on these inter-related
themes. The conference would seek to establish an overall perspective useful
in understanding the evil phenomenal of genocide and genocidal violence.
The discussions will represent the first, major inter-governmental conference
of the issue since the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the United Nations
in 1948, it was learnt.
Jerusalem Post 21 Jan 2004
Delegation to Swedish conference downgraded
After threatening to withdraw from the Stockholm International Forum's upcoming
conference on genocide, Israel has instead downgraded its delegation. Unlike
in previous years, when the delegation to the Forum's annual conference
was led by a cabinet minister, this year it will be led Nimrod Barkan, a
government official in the Foreign Ministry. Barkan is head of the Foreign
Ministry's Bureau for World Jewish Affairs. In previous years, the delegation
has been led by Minister of Immigrant Absorption Tzipi Livni and former
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Melchior. Last week ambassador
to Sweden Zvi Mazel wrecked "Snow White and the Madness of Truth", an art
installation at an exhibition connected to the conference. The ambassador
later said his actions were premeditated, discussed beforehand with other
Foreign Ministry officials. The exhibit he wrecked depicts as Snow White
the suicide bomber who killed 22 Israelis along with herself at Haifa's
Jewish-Arab-owned Maxim restaurant last October. Hanadi Jaradat's photograph
is affixed to a toy boat floating in a pool of red water. The museum and
the Swedish government rejected Israel's requests to have the exhibit removed,
but said they would take down 26 posters with Jaradat's face advertising
the exhibit at Stockholm subway stations. The government has said that Sweden
violated an agreement that the exhibit would not focus on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. The Foreign Ministry said the level of representation was lowered
because "the conditions for participation on a higher level were not created."
In a statement, the ministry said Israel decided to participate "due to
the importance of the conference to prevent genocide ... and despite the
severity with which Israel views the continued display of this terrible
work." Conference organizers welcomed Israel's decision to attend. "It is
very satisfying that they've made the decision, but it is not surprising.
It's a big international conference," a conference spokesman said. With
The Associated
US State Department 26 Jan 2004 www.state.gov Press
Prosper to Lead U.S. Delegation at Stockholm International Forum Will
discuss ways to prevent genocide and genocidal violence
The United States has announced Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper, the U.S.
Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, will lead the U.S. delegation
to the Stockholm International Forum 2004 in Sweden January 26-28. The fourth
and final Stockholm International Forum will address some of the most difficult
challenges facing the international community regarding genocide and will
discuss ways to prevent genocide and genocidal violence Following is the
press release: U.S DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman January 26,
2004 Media Note AMBASSADOR PIERRE-RICHARD PROSPER TO LEAD U.S. DELEGATION
TO THE STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL FORUM 2004: PREVENTING GENOCIDE: THREATS
AND RESPONSIBILITIES Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large
for War Crimes Issues, will lead the U.S. Delegation to the Stockholm International
Forum 2004, which will take place in Stockholm, Sweden from January 26-28.
The U.S. Delegation will include other distinguished members from government
and the private sector, including Ambassador Ed O'Donnell, U.S. Special
Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Congressman Jim Leach of Iowa, Rabbi Arthur
Schneier, President, Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Mr. Fred Schwartz,
President, The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, and Mr.
Jerry Fowler, Committee of Conscience Staff Director at the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum. The fourth and final Stockholm International
Forum will address some of the most difficult challenges facing the international
community regarding genocide. The U.S delegation will participate in plenary
sessions and workshops with other experts, policymakers and politicians
to share ideas and discuss different perspectives in order to fully consider
ways to prevent genocide and genocidal violence. .
AFP 26 January 2004
Genocide conference opens in Stockholm amid tight security
STOCKHOLM : Security was tight in the Swedish capital Stockholm as UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and ten heads of state or government joined other delegates
from some 60 countries for a conference on ways to prevent genocide, ethnic
cleansing and mass killings. Among the delegates at the three-day "Preventing
Genocide" conference, opening Monday, were representatives from nations
with experience of mass killings, including Armenia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and
Rwanda. "After World War II, everybody said: 'never again', and yet genocide
happened," Annan told reporters after a meeting with the conference's host,
Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson. "We will try to find ways to nip
the problem in the bud," he added. Persson is the only western European
leader attending the genocide conference, the fourth and final one in a "Stockholm
International Forum" series initiated by Persson in 2000. Some governments
sent justice ministers, whose portfolio include international law, and others
have dispatched specialised academics and researchers. Security was tight in
the centre of Stockholm as police cordoned off streets around the Norra Latin
conference centre and put up barriers and tape to prevent cars from parking
nearby. The European Union is represented by foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Organizers stressed that the talks are to focus on the future, and will be based
on "the principle of the international community's joint responsibility
for preventing genocide". "Many countries and observers feel that
the international community could have done more to prevent genocide in the
past," conference spokesman Stig Berglind told AFP.
The conference will be the first major inter-governmental conference on the
issue since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide in 1948, Berglind said. "'Never again' must not
become a mere incantation," Persson said in a statement released ahead
of the conference. Israel, whose creation as a state followed genocide against
the Jewish people, will take part in the conference. The country's presence
will, however, be low-key, after it came near to cancelling altogether following
a full-scale diplomatic controversy with host country Sweden over an art exhibit
a week ago. The conference closes Wednesday, and organizers said they hope for
a final declaration and follow-up mechanisms and conferences.
AP 26 Jan 2004
Annan calls for new UN body to prevent genocide
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) Warning massacres like those carried out in
Rwanda and Bosnia could happen again, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today
proposed an international committee to help prevent genocide. Annan made the
proposal at the opening of a three-day conference in Stockholm on preventing
genocide.More than a half a million people were slaughtered during the 1994
war in Rwanda. A year later in Bosnia, some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred
in Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, during the Balkan wars. "I long for the
day when we can say with confidence that, confronted with a new Rwanda or new
Srebrenica, the world would respond effectively, and in good time," Annan
said. "But let us not delude ourselves. That day has yet to come."Annan
suggested forming a UN committee on preventing genocide and having a "special
rapporteur" who would report directly to the Security Council to monitor
"massive and systematic violations of human rights and threats to international
peace and security." Several delegates welcomed the idea, including Sweden's
Prime Minister Goeran Persson and Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who
said "there have been many failures when it comes to preventing genocide
during the last years."
The event is the first major intergovernmental conference on the issue since
the United Nations adopted its Convention against Genocide in 1948. Security
was tight, with 1,500 police officers patrolling the area. The conference is
the final one in a series of annual conventions called the Stockholm International
Forum, which began with a conference on the Holocaust in 2000. Organizers said
they hoped delegates would sign a declaration with commitments from 60 countries
to improve efforts to prevent genocide.
Participants include former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, as well
as the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana; former chief UN
weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Rolf Ekeus; International Criminal Court prosecutor
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and Nobel Peace Prize winners Bernard Kouchner and Elie
Wiesel. Israel downgraded its representation after a Stockholm museum refused
to remove a display showing a picture of an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber from
an exhibit linked to the conference. Israel said the piece glorified suicide
bombers. The Israeli-born artist who created the installation, Dror Feiler,
was among hundreds who protested Monday against Israel's presence at the event.
Human Rights Watch 26 Jan 2004
U.N.: Annan's Call for Genocide Monitor Endorsed (New York, January 26,
2004)
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for a monitor to help prevent future
acts of genocide is a bold and welcome step, Human Rights Watch said today.
Speaking today at an international conference on genocide prevention in Stockholm,
Annan suggested that the United Nations consider appointing a Special Rapporteur
on the Prevention of Genocide. This monitor would report to the Security Council
so that it could take action when genocide was impending. Annan also proposed
creation of a U.N. Committee on the Prevention of Genocide to recommend actions
to combat genocide. "Too many times, the world has stood by and watched as
genocide was committed," said Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for Human
Rights Watch. "Kofi Annan's proposal would make sure that the Security Council
was on notice that genocide was being planned. No one would be able to say they
didn't know." Human Rights Watch noted that even with the Secretary General's
proposal, U.N. member states would still need the political will to act. "No
early-warning mechanism will substitute for political will," said Mungoven.
"But this would put intense pressure on the Security Council to act before it
was too late."
Financial Times (London) FT.com January 27 2004
Annan calls for new measures to stop genocide
By Christopher Brown-Humes in Stockholm
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, yesterday called for new measures
to prevent genocide, saying the world community had not yet shown it could stop
mass killings and ethnic cleansing. "I long for the day when we can say
with confidence that, confronted with a new Rwanda or a new Srebrenica, the
world would respond effectively and in good time. But let us not delude ourselves,
that day has not yet come," he told a Swedish government conference on
preventing genocide in Stockholm. He proposed setting up a UN committee and
a "special rapporteur" to deal with genocide issues. The latter would
report directly to the Security Council and make clear the link "between
massive and systematic violations of human rights and threats to international
peace and security".Mr Annan criticised the international community's failure
to prevent genocide in the 1990s, referring specifically to Rwanda where 800,000
people were killed in 1994 and Srebrenica in Bosnia where 8,000 Muslims were
killed a year later. "The international community clearly had the capacity
to prevent these events, but it lacked the will," he said. UN member states,
and especially the Security Council, had made the "gravest mistakes".
Göran Persson, Swedish prime minister, stressed that the world had the
tools to prevent genocide - including legislation and courts, sanctions, diplomatic
channels and military intervention.The conference has been criticised for not
focusing on conflicts, such as the Middle East. Representatives of certain persecuted
minorities have not been invited. The Swedish government took the decision deliberately
to stop its agenda becoming bogged down. Bill Rammell, parliamentary under-secretary
of state at the UK Foreign Office, said a crucial element to the debate was
determining when it was right to intervene in another country's affairs. "We
have got to try and build a consensus that state sovereignty doesn't mean the
freedom to do whatever you want in terms of human rights."The final conference
declaration is expected to call for better early warning systems and a greater
commitment that perpetrators of genocide are brought to justice.The conference
is being attended by delegations from more than 50 countries.
RFE/RL
A Lack Of Will Led To Recent Slaughters, Annan Tells Genocide Conference
By Charles Carlson
Prague, 26 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- An international conference on preventing
genocide began today in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. In the keynote address,
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the world had the capability but lacked
the will to prevent the mass slaughters of the 1990s, particularly in the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda. "The events of the 1990s, in the former Yugoslavia
and [in] Rwanda, are especially shameful," Annan said. "The international
community clearly had the capacity to prevent these events, but lacked the will.
Those memories are especially painful for the United Nations." Annan said
a small outside force -- perhaps as few as 5,000 soldiers -- could have stopped
the Rwandan slaughter in the early stages, but that there was a failure of the
UN, the U.S., and other powers to act. "In Rwanda in 1994, and in Srebrenica
in 1995, we had peacekeeping troops on the ground at the very place and time
where genocidal acts were committed. But instead of reinforcing the troops,
we withdrew them." Up to 1 million Tutsis and Hutu moderates were massacred
in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. More than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were killed
when Serbian forces captured the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995.
Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson has invited representatives of some 60
governments to attend the three-day conference in Stockholm. Its aim is to gain
an overall understanding of the problem of genocide and pave the way for preventive
action. The Stockholm meeting is the first conference of this format at government
level to be held since the UN adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide in 1948. Persson emphasized the aim of the conference
in his opening remarks: "The task is ours. There is no one else. We, together,
must take action. We are here to discuss what action -- how do we prevent future
genocides?" The main work of the conference will be conducted by panels
consisting of prominent participants, as well as in a number of workshops within
four key areas -- threats, responsibilities, prevention, and awareness. Persson
said he decided to host the conference due to his outrage over anti-Semitic
incidents that have occurred in Sweden. He says a large percentage of Swedish
youth are prepared to believe those who assert that the Holocaust did not happen.
As a response, Persson has launched a comprehensive education campaign about
the Holocaust. "Whether we lack economic resources or not, when priorities
are set, genocide prevention has to be on the list," Persson said. "We
do not lack political means -- legal tools such as legislation and courts, sanctions,
humanitarian aid, diplomatic channels, international arenas for political decision-making
or -- as a last resort -- military forces," Persson said. This is the fourth
and final conference in the Stockholm International Forum series. The first,
which focused on the Holocaust, took place in January 2000. Political leaders
from around the world adopted a Declaration Promoting Holocaust Education, Remembrance,
and Research. Two other conferences -- on combating intolerance and on truth,
justice, and reconciliation -- took place in 2001 and 2002.
One of the fundamental ideas of the present conference is to create a forum
for exchange between leading politicians, decision-makers, and experts. Issues
due to be discussed include how to detect the threat of an impending act of
genocide, mass murder, or ethnic cleansing, and how can the international community's
diplomatic, legal, humanitarian, economic, military and other tools be better
used for the prevention of genocide. Paul A. Levine, a lecturer in Holocaust
history at the University of Uppsala, has remarked that the genocide conference
is taking place at an interesting and troubled time -- for Sweden, Europe, and
the world at large."The events of the 1990s, in the former Yugoslavia
and [in] Rwanda, are especially shameful." "A very different atmosphere
characterizes affairs today than when the inaugural forum convened in January
2000," Levine said. "The specter of international terrorism casts
a shadow over our daily life and liberties. The invasion of Iraq and its baleful
aftermath is causing international anxiety. And, in Europe, not least, we are
witnessing a deeply disturbing outburst of anti-Semitism." Persson
reiterated this concern in his opening remarks today. "The failure of governments
to break unemployment, to reduce poverty and social gaps, to stop corruption
and organized crime, make people turn their back on democracy. Democratic forces
must be prepared to address this despair," Persson said. In Stockholm,
an anti-war coalition is criticizing Swedish officials for failing to invite
representatives of the Palestinians, Chechens, and Kurds. Joergen Hassler
of Network Against War said it is "ridiculous that a conference on genocide
does not touch on current situations where genocide could arise." In connection
with the Stockholm conference, an extensive international cultural program is
being arranged, including a film festival, exhibitions, music events, discussions,
seminars, and many other cultural activities.
VOA News 26 Jan 2004, 16:03 UTC
Kofi Annan Proposes Genocide Prevention Committee
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed establishment of a
U.N. committee on the prevention of genocide.
Mr. Annan told a conference in Stockholm he is recommending creation of a special
U.N. official who would report to the Security Council on efforts to prevent
genocide. The secretary-general said he hopes for a day when the world can respond
rapidly and responsibly to situations such as arose in Rwanda and in the former
Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He referred to the deaths of at least 7,000 Muslims
after Serb forces captured the enclave of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina,
and to the killing a million or more Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu tribesmen
in 1994. He called it shameful that the international community took no timely
effective action in those cases.Organizers of the Stockholm Conference on the
Prevention of Genocide say it is the first major intergovernmental conference
on the subject since adoption of the U.N. Convention against Genocide in 1948.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
BBC 26 January, 2004, 13:39 GMT
Annan calls for genocide monitor
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for the creation of a commission
to forestall future acts of genocide.
He told a world conference on the issue in Stockholm that the mass killings
of the 1990s in countries such as Rwanda could not be allowed to happen again.
He said he longed for the day when "confronted with a new Rwanda... the
world would respond effectively". This week's forum is first conference
of its kind since the UN's 1948 resolution against genocide.Mr Annan called
for the creation of both a UN commission and a special rapporteur on the prevention
of genocide.
GENOCIDE Defined as any act aimed at the destruction of all or part of a national,
ethnical, racial or religious group of people.The rapporteur would report directly
to the UN Security Council to quickly identify links between "massive and
systematic violations of human rights and threats to international peace and
security", the UN chief said at the start of the three-day conference.
"The events of the 1990s, in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, are especially
shameful," said Mr Annan. "The international community clearly had
the capacity to prevent these events but it lacked the will." The forum
is being attended by delegates from 58 states, including 13 international organisations.Among
those states represented are some with experience of mass killings such as Armenia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda. However, Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson
is believed to be the only Western leader at the conference. Israel has a delegation
at the forum but its attendance was in doubt earlier when the Israeli ambassador
to Stockholm attacked an art installation depicting a Palestinian suicide bomber,
which he branded as anti-Semitic. After threatening to pull out of the conference
altogether unless Stockholm apologised for exhibiting the artwork, Israel instead
downgraded the level of its delegation which was originally to include President
Moshe Katzav.
Associated Press 27 Jan 2004.
Annan Calls for Genocide Commission By Karl Ritter
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Monday that genocide
could happen again and proposed a new international commission to help prevent
future mass killings. "I long for the day when we can say with confidence
that, confronted with a new Rwanda or new Srebrenica, the world would respond
effectively, and in good time," Annan said at the opening of a three-day
conference on preventing genocide. "But let us not delude ourselves. That
day has yet to come." Annan was referring to the mass slaughter of civilians
during the 1994 war in Rwanda and the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys
a year later in Bosnia during the Balkan wars.He proposed setting up a UN committee
and a "Special Rapporteur" on the prevention of genocide. The rapporteur
would report directly to the Security Council to quickly identify links between
"massive and systematic violations of human rights and threats to international
peace and security," Annan said. The proposal was welcomed by several delegates
at the conference in downtown Stockholm. "There have been many failures
when it comes to preventing genocide during the last years," Latvian President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga told reporters. "Every concrete measure that could
improve the situation must be welcomed by all." Swedish Prime Minister
G?ran Persson also welcomed the idea, saying "there are good possibilities
that it would work." Earlier, Persson called on delegates to move beyond
pronouncements of "never again" and take early action to stop genocide.
"We do not lack information, horrendous stories, facts. But we have
to improve our ability to believe them, to believe the unbelievable,"
he said. The conference got under way amid strict security in the Swedish capital,
with 1,500 police officers guarding participants, sealing off streets and creating
huge traffic problems. A diplomatic dispute between Sweden and Israel over a
controversial art exhibit threatened to overshadow the conference a week before
it started. Israel downgraded its representation after a Stockholm museum refused
to remove a display showing a picture of an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber from
an exhibit linked to the conference. Israeli Ambassador Zvi Mazel tried on Jan.
16 to vandalize the installation, saying it glorified suicide bombers. Sweden
said his actions were unacceptable. The head of the Israeli delegation, Nimrod
Barkan, told the conference there had been an upsurge in hate speech against
Jews in the past three years, particularly from Muslim leaders.
Associated Press 27 Jan 2004 07:31
Swedish PM calls Holocaust greatest failure
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
Stockholm - The Holocaust was the greatest failure possible, Swedish Prime Minister
Goran Persson told the Stockholm International Forum on the Prevention of Genocide
Monday. Opening the conference in the Swedish capital, Persson also noted the
weak reaction of the international community to ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia
and the "paralysis" of the rest of the world in the face of genocide
in Rwanda. Some 50 countries are participating in the international meet. Egypt
and Morocco are the only two Arab states attending.Persson quoted from the
diaries of Rafael Lemkin, the Polish Jewish lawyer who fled to Sweden during
the Holocaust, and who coined the term "genocide" when he appeared
at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II. The prime minister thanked two
prominent Holocaust scholars for attending the conference - Prof. Yehuda Bauer
of Yad Vashem and Nobel Prize-winner Eli Wiesel.UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
who spoke next, decried the role of the Security Council in preventing the atrocities
in Srebernice in 1995 and Rwanda in 1994, saying that instead of beefing up
the UN troops at the site, it had ordered them to retreat. Annan said also that
he had not received sufficient international support to implement the recommendations
of the commissions of inquiry that looked into the two massacres. He proposed
setting up a special mechanism for the prevention of genocide in the future.
The Swedish organizers then gave the honor of the next speech to Bauer, who
served as academic advisor to the conference. Bauer responded to criticism that
present-day conflicts, such as that between Israel and the Palestinians, were
not being discussed by the forum. He said the intention of the organizers was
to be forward-looking and to leave issues "such as Iraq, Kashmir and the
Middle East" to other forums. "There will be no decisions made here
and no agreements will be drawn up," Bauer said. He warned that radical
Islam could constitute "a threat to all civilization" and said it
must be battled by "a combination of strength and other means."
Nimrod Barkan of the Foreign Ministry's Diaspora division, who is heading the
Israeli delegation, read out to the forum quotes from sermons delivered by Muslim
clerics in Mecca against the Jews. The suicide bombers get their inspiration
from them, Barkan said, and they will harm not only Jews but others also.Swedish
members of the left-wing Anti-War Coalition Monday held a rally near the conference
hall. They were protesting against what they saw as the failure of the participants
in the forum to discuss the situation of ethnic minorities which, they said,
are being threatened by genocide: the Palestinians in the territories, the Chechans,
the Turkish Kurds and the trade unions in Colombia.
The previous night, the protesters had held an "alternative" forum
to which they invited members of these groups. The Palestinians were represented
by Mohammed Bakri, who made the film "Jenin, Jenin." Only a few dozen
protesters gathered at the rally, which was held in a central square in Stockholm,
about 10 minutes' walk from the international forum. The organizers attributed
this to the bitter cold. Prominent among the demonstrators were Palestinians
and pro-Palestinian activists who set up a wooden wall along the edge of the
square, to represent the separation fence. The rally began with controversial
ex-Israeli artist and musician Dror Feiler playing his saxophone. He chose a
song by Umm Kultum, followed by his own interpretation of a Jewish prayer, and
then spoke in Swedish, calling on the protesters to boycott American produce
and Israeli goods manufactured in the territories. Other speakers charged Israel
with genocide against the Palestinians. Feiler told Haaretz that he was negotiating
the exhibition of his suicide-bomber exhibit with a number of museums in Europe
and elsewhere. The exhibit received vast publicity after Israel's ambassador
to Sweden tore down the lights around it. Feiler said that the fact that the
media were more interested in him "than in the crimes being perpetrated
in the territories" showed how warped the public agenda is. He said, however,
that he was very pleased with the personal attention he had received. "I
was interviewed on CNN for seven whole minutes," he said. "It was
all due to the ambassador."
AFP 27 Jan 2004
Iraq, Afghanistan, 11 other states at risk of genocide: expert
STOCKHOLM: Thirteen countries in the world face the threat of genocide
Iraq, Afghanistan, eight nations in African and three in Asia , a US researcher
told an international conference on preventing genocide Tuesday. Sudan, Myanmar,
Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are in greatest danger
of mass bloodshed, Barbara Harff of the US Center for International Development
and Conflict Management, told the conference in Stockholm. The other eight countries
on the danger list are Somalia, Uganda, Algeria, China, Iraq despite
the US-led regime change , Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ethiopia. Sudan,
Myanmar, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC all meet five of the six risk factors outlined
by Harff who, at the Clinton administrations request, designed in the
1990s a theoretical model for risk assessment and early warning of genocidal
violence. The factors are prior genocides or politicides; upheaval since 1988;
existence of a minority elite; exclusionary ideology; the type of regime and
trade openness.
Somalia, Uganda, Algeria and China meet four of the six factors, while Iraq,
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ethiopia meet three, Harff said in a presentation
of her November 2003 report to representatives from 50 countries attending the
Stockholm conference. Harff said that with her model we can narrow the
timeframe and identify warning flags that a genocide is in the making a few
months prior to its onset.
But Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who was in the Swedish capital, rejected
the assertion that his country was again at risk of genocide, after the 1994
bloodshed that claimed the lives of up to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Theres no such threat in my opinion, he told reporters after
bilateral talks with the host of the conference, Swedish Prime Minister Goeran
Persson. Although not totally eliminated, the problem has been increasingly
diminishing (and) what remains of the problem is much smaller than what used
to be there, he said. I dont see anything threatening our
stability again.
Harffs remarks came during discussions on the early warning signs of genocide,
on the second day of the three-day conference. The secretary general of the
International Committee of the Red Cross told delegates that speedy responses
were crucial in preventing a repeat of the World War II Holocaust and the massacres
in Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the mid-1990s. It is difficult to anticipate
the critical moment at which genocide will begin or the scope that the massacre
will take. Greater efforts must therefore be made to interpret the warning signs
and respond to them adequately, Jakob Kellenberger said. This should
not be too difficult. Alarm bells ring for those who are listening.The
problem, he said, was that there was a lack of will to act and he
urged politicians, representatives of civil society and the business sector
to work together to promote dialogue, mutual understanding and trust. His comments
echoed those of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who told the conference
Monday that the slaughter in Yugoslavia and Rwanda could have been prevented
if the world had taken action. The events of the 1990s, in the former
Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, are especially shameful. The international community
clearly had the capacity to prevent these events. But it lacked the will,
Annan said. Annan recommended the creation of a Committee on the Prevention
of Genocide and the introduction of a special rapporteur on preventing
genocide, who would report directly to the UN Security Council, the UNs
top decision-making body.
As the world marked Holocaust Memorial Day on Tuesday, Swedens Jewish
community was to host a remembrance ceremony at Stockholms synagogue,
to which the heads of conference delegations were invited and at which the Swedish
prime minister was to deliver an address.The Preventing Genocide conference
is the first major inter-governmental forum on genocide since the adoption of
the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
in 1948, according to organizers.The meeting is scheduled to conclude Wednesday,
when delegates are to adopt a declaration that should serve as a political basis
for future discussions on preventing genocide. The 50 countries at the conference
were also due to approve a document committing themselves to providing shelter
to people threatened by genocide.
www.oneworld.net 27 Jan 2004
President Moisiu participates in the International Forum in Stockholm.
Alfred Moisiu The President of the Republic Mr.Alfred Moisiu departed yesterday
to Sweden to participate in the International Forum 2004 in Stockholm "Genocides
prevention: The threatening and responsibilities". President Moisiu is expected
to speak in front of other government leaders, political leaders, academics
and representatives of civil society organizations. The publicist Fatos Lubonja
and the historian Luan Malltezi will also be part of the delegation led by Mr.
Moisiu. Over the course of the Forum, January 26-28, the President will
have bilateral meetings with his colleagues and other persons. Soon after his
return home, President Moisiu will travel to the USA where he will participate
in the prayer breakfast, an activity that is held every year in this country.
Like the previous years he will be accompanied on this important activity by
Albanian politicians from all over the political spectrum.
AFP 27 January 2004
Speedy response to warnings are key to preventing genocide: ICRC
STOCKHOLM : Speedy responses to early warning signals are key to preventing
a repeat of the World War II Holocaust and the massacres in Yugoslavia and Rwanda
in the 1990s, an international conference on genocide prevention was told."It
is difficult to anticipate the critical moment at which genocide will begin
or the scope that the massacre will take. Greater efforts must therefore be
made to interpret the warning signs and respond to them adequately," Jakob
Kellenberger, secretary-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross,
told representatives of more than 50 countries. "This should not be too
difficult," he said Tuesday. "Alarm bells ring for those who are
listening."The problem, he said, was that there was a "lack of
will to act", and urged politicians, representatives of civil society and
the business sector to work together to promote dialogue, mutual understanding
and trust.
His comments echoed those of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who told the conference
on its opening day Monday that the slaughters that occurred in Yugoslavia and
Rwanda could have been prevented if the world had taken action. "The events
of the 1990s, in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, are especially shameful.
The international community clearly had the capacity to prevent these events.
But it lacked the will," Annan said. Annan recommended the creation of
a "Committee on the Prevention of Genocide" and of the post of special
rapporteur on the prevention of genocide, who would report directly to the UN
Security Council, the UN's top decision-making body. "I long for the day
when we can say with confidence that, confronted with a new Rwanda or a new
Srebrenica, the world would respond effectively, and in good time. But let us
not delude ourselves, that day has not yet come," he said.
On Tuesday, as the world marked Holocaust Memorial Day, delegates attending
the conference listened to panel discussions and attended workshops addressing
issues such as early warning signals, responsibility for prevention of ethnic
cleansing, how to strengthen the United Nations, as well as deterrents, responses
and how to deal with the aftermath. Meanwhile, Sweden's Jewish community was
to host a Holocaust remembrance ceremony on Tuesday evening at Stockholm's synagogue,
to which the heads of delegations were invited and where Swedish Prime Minister
Goeran Persson was to make an address. The Preventing Genocide conference, the
brainchild of the Swedish leader, is the first major inter-governmental forum
on genocide since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide in 1948, according to organisers. The meeting is scheduled
to conclude on Wednesday, when delegates are to adopt a declaration that should
serve as a political basis for future discussions on preventing genocide, conference
chairman Paer Nuder, Swedish policy coordination minister, said.The 50 countries
at the conference were also due to approve a document committing themselves
to providing shelter to people threatened by genocide.
REUTERS January 28, 2004
War-Crimes Panel to Take on Congo Case
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 27 The International Criminal Court hopes to begin its
first investigation an examination of war crimes accusations in northeast
Congo by October, its chief prosecutor said Tuesday. The prosecutor,
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said continuing violence in the region made it difficult
to begin the investigation earlier because potential witnesses could be killed.
"The idea is that we start in October because then we can be sure we have
stopped the violence and we can go there and talk to people," he said at
an international antigenocide conference in Sweden.
The court, which has no formal cases on its books yet, was
set up in The Hague to try suspects for genocide, war crimes and systematic
human rights abuses. Ethnic clashes between rival Hema and Lendu militias in
the northeastern province of Ituri have claimed more than 50,000 lives since
1999. Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said that trials would probably begin next year and
that the court could only investigate crimes that took place after July 2002,
when it came into force.
Associated Press 27 Jan 2004 Filed at 6:55 p.m. ET
Thousands Protest Swedish Art Exhibit
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Sweden's prime minister has been bombarded with about
14,000 e-mails from a U.S.-based Jewish human rights group protesting an art
exhibit featuring the image of a Palestinian suicide bomber, the government
said Tuesday. The flap threatened to overshadow a three-day international conference
in Stockholm on preventing genocide that ends Wednesday. Israel downgraded its
representation at the conference after the Museum of National Antiquities refused
to remove a display showing a picture of Islamic Jihad bomber Hanadi Jaradat,
who killed herself and 21 bystanders in an Oct. 4 suicide attack in Haifa, Israel.
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center said the exhibit glorified a ``Palestinian
homicide bomber'' and Sweden should declare suicide bombings a crime against
humanity. In a letter posted on its Web site last week, the center said Sweden
has championed the exhibit under the rubric of artistic freedom. ``But what
is Sweden prepared to do for the real victims of terror? No nation has yet had
the courage to officially come forward to declare suicide bombing 'a crime against
humanity,''' the letter said.Prime Minister Goeran Persson described the protest
e-mails as similar to letter campaigns organized by lobby groups.
``We are subject to this kind of mail bombardment every now and then, but
I can't say that it's very effective as a way of voicing an opinion,'' Persson
said, describing the letters as ``not very threatening.'' Foreign Minister
Laila Freivalds said the government does not have the right to censure art.``The
government can't influence the museum in its actions, but it's the museum itself
that decides what will be shown or not,'' she said. ``We have freedom of expression,
and our departments and museums are independent.'' Israeli-born artist Dror
Feiler, who created ``Snow White and the Madness of Truth,'' said the piece
was meant to call attention to how weak, lonely people can be capable of horrible
things. Israeli Ambassador Zvi Mazel tried Jan. 16 to vandalize the display,
which is in a rectangular pool filled with red-colored water. Museum officials
rejected Mazel's calls to remove the exhibit but said they would take down 26
posters with Jaradat's face that were placed in Stockholm subway stations to
advertise the exhibition.But Israel lowered its representation at the genocide
conference as a result of the flap, sending a diplomat instead of Israeli President
Moshe Katzav.On Tuesday, Persson attended a candlelight ceremony for Holocaust
victims in downtown's Raoul Wallenberg Square.``This is a possibility to reflect
on how cruel people can be to each other,'' Persson said.``The Holocaust wasn't
the end of genocide. I just have to mention Rwanda, I just have to mention Srebrenica.
In our time, we are not exempt from attacks against the values of humanity.''Persson
also attended a Holocaust memorial service amid tight security at the Stockholm
synagogue.
Reuters 28 January, 2004 17:33
Some Guantanamo prisoners to go free
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The United States will release up to two dozen prisoners
it considers to be a low security threat from its Guantanamo Bay military base,
says the U.S. special ambassador for war crimes. Ambassador Pierre-Richard
Prosper said arrangements were underway but did not want to say what nationalities
the prisoners were or when they would be released. "We have made agreements
with these countries that we wait for them to do the announcements," Prosper
told journalists on the sidelines of a Swedish conference on preventing genocide.
"It is not only about transport, we are also trying to see if we can
meet the desires of the particular detainees of where they go and when they
go," he said. Around 660 suspected Taliban and al Qaeda members have been
held at the Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba since they were captured during the
U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, which began after the September 11, 2001 attacks
on the United States. Prosper said about 80 deemed no threat to security were
released last year. The detentions without trial have drawn worldwide criticism
from governments and human rights groups concerned about the prisoners' legal
status and the conditions in the camp. Prosper said the prisoners to be released
were of low or no security threat. He said the United States was also in talks
with several countries on sending home prisoners thought to be a medium threat,
but could not say when that would happen."The issue is not in our hands,
at this moment it is with the other governments. If they come back tomorrow
it would be tomorrow," he said.But Prosper also said many prisoners needed
further investigation."In particular to the European detainees, there is
a pattern developing on what countries they visited on their way to Afghanistan,
a disturbing pattern... which is beyond coincidence," he said.
UN News Centre 28 January 2004
Kosovo is good lesson in international action against ethnic conflict
UN official
The inter-ethnic conflict in Kosovo provides good lessons about both
the successes and pitfalls of international action in halting ethnic cleansing
and preventing it from occurring again, a senior United Nations official told
a conference on genocide today. These include the need to establish a peacekeeping
presence as soon as possible in the area of conflict to prevent retaliation
and the difficulty of ensuring the return of all refugees, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's Deputy Special Representative in Kosovo, Jean-Christian Cady, told
the Stockholm International Forum on preventing genocide. Kosovo is
a good example of what the international community and the United Nations can
achieve to stop ethnic cleansing and build policy instruments that will prevent
it from occurring again, Mr. Cady said of the province that has been under
UN administration since June 1999 following fighting between Serbs and ethnic
Albanians. He stressed that prerequisites included a clear and common will
of the international community to stop an ethnic cleansing as well as the deployment
as soon as possible of an international mission with a military component and
a robust mandate.One of the shortcomings we had in Kosovo was that during
the time it took to establish the full peacekeeping presence, in the summer
and autumn of 1999, numerous interethnic retaliation actions took place and
the victims became the perpetrators, he said.The second difficulty is
the return of refugees. In Kosovo practically all ethnic Albanians went back
in a matter of weeks, but more than four years later most Serbs who fled have
not returned despite the efforts of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).Even
though some of them do return, many Serbs feel that the interethnic security
situation is too fragile and the unemployment too high, to allow them to settle
again in Kosovo, Mr. Cady said. Before reconciliation can occur, effective
justice must be delivered, so that no crime is left unpunished, whoever the
victim or perpetrator, he added. The main challenge of UNMIK is to create
stable conditions for a multiethnic Kosovo, not only to prevent ethnic cleansing
from occurring again when the mandate of the international mission comes to
an end but also to ensure a normal development and prosperity of all communities,
free from harassment and with equal access to institutions, an impartial police
and justice system, he declared.
United States Embassy Stockholm 28 Jan 2004 tockholm.usembassy.gov
Kosovo Provides Lessons in Preventing Ethnic Conflict, UN Says (Jan. 28: Remarks
made at Stockholm International Forum) Wednesday, 28 January 2004
The ethnic conflict in Kosovo provided several valuable lessons concerning
on international efforts to prevent ethnic conflict, said Jean-Christian Cady,
a UN representative in Kosovo, at the Stockholm International Forum on preventing
genocide January 28. "Kosovo is a good example of what the international
community and the United Nations can achieve to stop ethnic cleansing and build
policy instruments that will prevent it from occurring again," he said. Cady
said the international community must demonstrate a "clear and common will"
to stop ethnic cleansing and must quickly deploy an international mission with
"a military component and a robust mandate." He cited two problems in Kosovo:
delays in establishing a full peacekeeping presence, which led to interethnic
retaliation, and the difficulty in achieving refugee returns, particularly of
Serbian refugees. Following is the UN press release: (begin text) UN News Centre
28 January 2004 KOSOVO IS GOOD LESSON IN INTERNATIONAL ACTION AGAINST ETHNIC
CONFLICT, SAYS UN OFFICIAL 28 January 2004 - The inter-ethnic conflict in Kosovo
provides good lessons about both the successes and pitfalls of international
action in halting ethnic cleansing and preventing it from occurring again, a
senior United Nations official told a conference on genocide today. These include
the need to establish a peacekeeping presence as soon as possible in the area
of conflict to prevent retaliation, and the difficulty of ensuring the return
of all refugees, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Deputy Special Representative
in Kosovo, Jean-Christian Cady, told the Stockholm International Forum on preventing
genocide. "Kosovo is a good example of what the international community and
the United Nations can achieve to stop ethnic cleansing and build policy instruments
that will prevent it from occurring again," Mr. Cady said of the province that
has been under UN administration since June 1999 following fighting between
Serbs and ethnic Albanians. He stressed that prerequisites included a clear
and common will of the international community to stop an ethnic cleansing as
well as the deployment as soon as possible of an international mission with
a military component and a robust mandate. "One of the shortcomings we had in
Kosovo was that during the time it took to establish the full peacekeeping presence,
in the summer and autumn of 1999, numerous interethnic retaliation actions took
place and the victims became the perpetrators," he said. The second difficulty
is the return of refugees. In Kosovo practically all ethnic Albanians went back
in a matter of weeks, but more than four years later most Serbs who fled have
not returned despite the efforts of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). "Even
though some of them do return, many Serbs feel that the interethnic security
situation is too fragile and the unemployment too high, to allow them to settle
again in Kosovo," Mr. Cady said. Before reconciliation can occur, effective
justice must be delivered, so that no crime is left unpunished, whoever the
victim or perpetrator, he added. "The main challenge of UNMIK is to create stable
conditions for a multiethnic Kosovo, not only to prevent ethnic cleansing from
occurring again when the mandate of the international mission comes to an end,
but also to ensure a normal development and prosperity of all communities, free
from harassment and with equal access to institutions, an impartial police and
justice system," he declared. (end text) (Distributed by the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
www.fena.ba (Sarajevo) 27.01.2004 (13:05)
ANNAN CALLS FOR NEW UN COMMISSION TO PREVENT GENOCIDE
STOCKHOLM, January 27 (FENA) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that genocide
could happen again and proposed a new international commission to help prevent
future mass killings. "I long for the day when we can say with confidence
that, confronted with a new Rwanda or new Srebrenica, the world would respond
effectively, and in good time," Annan said in Stockholm at the opening
of a three-day conference on preventing genocide. "But let us not delude
ourselves. That day has yet to come." He was referring to the mass slaughter
of civilians during the 1994 war in Rwanda and the massacre of 8,000 Muslim
men and boys a year later in Bosnia during the Balkan wars. He proposed setting
up a UN committee and a Special Rapporteur on the prevention of genocide. The
rapporteur would report directly to the Security Council to quickly identify
links between "massive and systematic violations of human rights and threats
to international peace and security," Annan said. The conference got underway
amid strict security in the Swedish capital, with 1,500 police officers guarding
participants, sealing off streets and creating huge traffic problems.(Fena)
jc
BBC 27 January, 2004, 06:25 GMT
European press review [excerpts]
Tuesday's European press reflects on genocide and anti-Semitism on the anniversary
of the liberation of Auschwitz
'Could it happen again?' Sweden's Aftonbladet feels Prime Minister Goran Persson
has been too cautious in issuing invitations to the world conference on genocide
which is taking place in the city. The paper is critical of the fact that most
invitations have been given to governments. "This excludes many of the
people who
are affected or risk being victims of genocide or ethnic cleansing," the
paper notes. "The Russian Government is invited, but not the Chechen people.
Turkey, but no Kurdish organisations. No Romany representatives, even though
they shared the same fate as the Jews during the Holocaust."
Malmoe's Sydsvenska Dagbladet points out that the Stockholm International Forum
is being held because today is the 59th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
and asks: "Could it happen again?" In Denmark too, Copenhagen's Kristeligt
Dagblad notes what it calls "an almost explosive rise" in the number
of attacks on Jews, synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and other Jewish symbols in
Europe. "There is a tendency, particularly among Israel's populist politicians,
to see anti-Semitism everywhere, but not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism,"
the paper says. "The fact that at least seven European countries are today
holding days of remembrance for the Holocaust is a sign that Europe has not
forgotten what happened 60 years ago. BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham
in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television,
press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
Zenit.org 2004-01-28
Holy See Calls for Probe of Causes of Genocide - International Efforts Have
Fallen Short, Says Papal Representative
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, JAN. 28, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See called on the
international community to examine why its efforts to prevent new genocides
in recent times have failed. The appeal was made by Archbishop Celestino Migliore,
permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, when, as head of the
Vatican delegation, he delivered an address Tuesday to the 4th Stockholm International
Forum on "Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities." Archbishop
Migliore defined genocide as the "specific intent to destroy, in whole
or in part, a nation, a race, an ethnic or religious group, a defenseless or
vulnerable group of human beings, simply for being such. Indeed, genocide literally
means to kill a race or a tribe." Inaugurating the forum, U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said the international community witnessed in the 1990s the "shameful"
genocide in Rwanda and in former Yugoslavia. Archbishop Migliore noted that,
although the international community has adopted juridical instruments, these
"have not prevented new genocides from happening."
"Something must have gone wrong, and the international community is duty-bound
to examine why they failed," the archbishop said. It is important, he added,
"to determine whether the failure was due to instruments and structures
which have become wanting in the face of evolving criminal strategies, or to
a lack of political will to implement them, or to interests overriding the survival
of a nation or a group, or to all these factors combined." "This task
is all the more compelling if we consider that, since genocide's intent to destroy
a nation or a group implies coordinated planning and long-term strategy, signs
of an impending threat could hardly escape notice of an attentive international
community," Archbishop Migliore added. "The United Nations and other
international organizations have the task to muster international resolve to
implement, whenever and wherever is necessary, the juridical instruments and
structures," he said. "They are the privileged fora in the search
for refocusing these instruments and structures and, if need be, in creating
new ones, to make them more responsive to threats of genocide or other grave
violations of human rights." Archbishop Migliore underlined the "duty
to educate individuals and communities, not only on the horrors of genocide,
not only to oppose it, but above all, to prevent it from occurring again."
"Genocide remains, unfortunately, a constant menace in some regions of
the world, where its causes and telltale signs may not be so hard to identify,"
the Holy See representative said. "Genocide is latent in places where eliminating
the other is considered a fast solution to drawn-out rivalries and unresolved
conflicts; where blatantly unjust relations between groups are ideologically
justified; where under the surface of apparent order are embers of hatred still
burning for lack of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation; where acceptance
of past mistakes and a 'purification of memory' are obstructed by the fear to
confront the historical reality," he added. "These are not only identifiable
warnings of an impending threat of genocide," the prelate said. "If
I may add, these are also identifiable factors in the breeding grounds of terrorism."
In the forum, Israeli professor Yehuda Bauer, academic adviser of the conference
and of the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, said that genocide was the cause
of 169 million deaths between 1900 and 1987. A risk of genocide currently exists
in Burma, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda and in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, Bauer
said. Representatives of more than 60 governments and international organizations
participated in the forum, invited by Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson.
The three-day forum ended today.
Zenit.org 2004-01-28
Vatican Address on Prevention of Genocide - Archbishop Migliore Addresses
Forum Held in Stockholm
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, JAN. 28, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address delivered
Tuesday by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See
to the United Nations, who headed the Vatican delegation to the fourth international
forum on "Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities." The
three-day conference ended today.* * *
Mr. Chairman, On behalf of my Delegation, I wish to congratulate sincerely the
Swedish Government for organizing this Forum on preventing genocide. The Forum's
emphasis on prevention and on identifying threats of genocide makes it a most
fitting conclusion to the three previous ones: on the Holocaust, on Combating
Intolerance, and on Truth, Justice and Reconciliation.
Humanity has seen world wars, genocides, mass murders, and ethnic cleansings.
However, among all forms of large-scale violence, genocide sets itself apart
by the evil motivation behind it, namely, its specific intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a nation, a race, an ethnic or religious group, a defenseless
or vulnerable group of human beings, simply for being such. Indeed, genocide
literally means to kill a race or a tribe. Among the many aspects of the question,
my Delegation wishes to highlight three specific points:
-- first, the need to implement existing legal instruments against genocide;
-- second, the central role of the international, regional and sub-regional
Organizations;
-- third, the commitment to education and vigilance against genocide.
1. First, the need to implement instruments and structures against genocide.
In response to the tragic cases of genocides of the last century, the international
community developed a series of legal instruments and juridical structures --
from the Convention for the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
approved by the United Nations in 1948, to the creation of the International
Criminal Court, approved in Rome in 1998. However, facts attest that the existence
of these instruments and structures have not prevented new genocides from happening.
Something must have gone wrong, and the international community is duty-bound
to examine why they failed; to determine whether the failure was due to instruments
and structures which have become wanting in the face of evolving criminal strategies,
or due to a lack of political will to implement them, or due to interests overriding
the survival of a nation or a group, or due to all these factors combined. This
task is all the more compelling if we consider that, since genocide's intent
to destroy a nation or a group implies coordinated planning and long-term strategy,
signs of an impending threat could hardly escape notice of an attentive international
community.
2. Second, the role of the international organizations. The United Nations and
other international organizations have the task to muster international resolve
to implement, whenever and wherever is necessary, the juridical instruments
and structures. They are the privileged fora in the search for refocusing these
instruments and structures and, if need be, in creating new ones, to make them
more responsive to threats of genocide or other grave violations of human rights.
In this regard, the United Nations remains the central forum for global international
rule making. In the last decades, a substantial body of international treaties
was negotiated in the UN. This work still continues on this very day. And we
observe that a gradually expanding corpus of international law imposes obligations
on member States. However, not all member States, in particular developing countries,
have the technical capacity to cope with all the international obligations.
There is a growing rift between the development of international law and the
capability of countries to apply it. Here implementation is a key word in the
challenges ahead of us in international law; it stresses the importance of juridical,
technical assistance to developing countries.
3. The third and final point my delegation wishes to underscore is our duty
to educate individuals and communities, not only on the horrors of genocide,
not only to oppose it, but above all, to prevent it from occurring again. A
lot has already been learned about genocide. But educating all about its evil
is a perennial and ever-timely duty incumbent upon us all. It was in this sense,
for example, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution 58/234,
on 23 December 2003, designating 7 of April this year as the International Day
of Reflection to commemorate the victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Genocide remains, unfortunately, a constant menace in some regions of the world,
where its causes and telltale signs may not be so hard to identify. Genocide
is latent in places where eliminating the other is considered a "fast solution"
to drawn-out rivalries and unresolved conflicts; where blatantly unjust relations
between groups are ideologically justified; where under the surface of apparent
order are embers of hatred still burning for lack of mutual forgiveness and
reconciliation; where acceptance of past mistakes and a "purification of
memory" are obstructed by the fear to confront the historical reality.
These are not only identifiable warnings of an impending threat of genocide:
if I may add, these are also identifiable factors in the breeding grounds of
terrorism.
Mr. Chairman, The world has become too interconnected to plead ignorance on
what is happening on the other side of the global village and, to a large extent,
the legal instruments and juridical structures are already in place to nip genocides
in the bud. What we need most now is a greater and more courageous will to implement
them. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
BBC 28 January, 2004, 16:44 GMT
New anti-genocide proposal agreed
Delegates at an international summit on preventing genocide have vowed to stop
any repetition of the mass killings seen in World War II.
They also committed themselves to identifying and using ways to monitor areas
at risk to halt ethnic cleansing on the scale of the Holocaust. The declaration
by representatives from 50 nations follows three days of talks. The meeting
in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, discussed the 1948 United Nations resolution
on genocide.
Responsibilities The delegates said they would use new ways of monitoring
to "prevent the recurrence of genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing".The
delegates also agreed to shoulder their responsibility "to protect groups
identified as potential victims of genocide, drawing upon the range of tools
at our disposal to prevent such atrocities." They said they bore in mind
the Holocaust engineered by Adolf Hitler in which millions of Jews were killed
and other groups such as gypsies and homosexuals were also targeted for extermination.The
representatives said they would also consider a proposal by UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan calling for the creation of a special rapporteur and a committee
for the prevention of genocide. Mr Annan told the conference that genocides
in Yugoslavia and Rwanda could have been prevented if the world had taken action.
East Timor President Xanana Gusmao referred to events in his own country and
called for those who perpetuate genocide to be brought to justice.However the
International Criminal Court, seen by some as a promising tool in the fight
against genocide, was not mentioned in the final declaration.Diplomatic sources
at the conference said the reference to the court was left out after opposition
from the United States and Israel.Nonetheless, the declaration was hailed as
the most powerful in condemning ethnic cleansing and mass killings since the
1948 UN resolution on genocide.
www.chinaview.cn 2004-01-29 02:28:35
Genocide conference wraps up with Stockholm Declaration
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The three-day conference against genocide
wrapped up on Wednesday with a declaration calling for collective efforts of
the international community to prevent genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass killings.
Every member of the international community is obliged to take effective measures
and establish mechanisms to identify and report possible threats of genocide
in order to prevent the recurrence of the tragedy of mass killings, said the
declaration. The international community should cooperate with each other under
the guidance of the United Nations and other relevant regional and international
organizations to implement effective measures to eliminate threats of genocide,
it added. All nations of the world have the duty to protect the community under
genocide threats, assist the survivors in rebuilding their homes and bring the
culprits to justice. The declaration also called for more attentions and efforts
on the education of the young people and the public. UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan as well as some ten heads of state or government attended the conference
and delivered speeches. Many delegates believed the international community
lacks a political will rather than the resources and capability in protecting
the human beings from the danger of mass killings. Annan called on the whole
world to come up with effective methods in preventing the tragedy and suggested
the establishment of special international organizations. Javier Solana, EU
High Representative for common foreign and security policy pledged larger responsibility
of the European Union in preventing genocide in West Balkan and the Great Lakes
area in Africa. The event was the first major international conference on this
subject since the United Nations adopted its Convention Against Genocide in
1948.
Associated Press 28 Jan 2004
Declaration On Genocide Signed In Sweden, But No Reference To International
Court
Stockholm, Jan. 28--(AP) Fifty-five countries signed a declaration Wednesday
to fight genocide and ethnic cleansing, but left out any mention of the International
Criminal Court because of U.S. objections. An overwhelming majority of delegates
at the three-day conference in Stockholm on preventing genocide backed the ICC,
but had no hopes of reversing staunch U.S. opposition to the court, Swedish
Prime Minister Goeran Persson said.
After the conference ended Wednesday, Persson told reporters he was disappointed
in the U.S. stance. However, he conceded that to believe an "international
conference in Stockholm suddenly will reverse (U.S. President) George Bush's
foreign policy in the beginning of an electoral campaign, that's not very realistic."The
1998 Rome Statute establishing the ICC has been ratified by 90 countries, but
the court faces opposition from the United States. Bush administration officials
fear that Americans, particularly soldiers abroad, could fall victim to politically
motivated prosecutions. The head of the U.S. delegation to the conference, ambassador-at-large
for war crimes issues, Pierre-Richard Prosper, said he did not pressure other
delegates to leave out the ICC from the declaration. "There was no pressure,"
Prosper told reporters. "The reason was that they wanted to reach a consensus
and clearly we could not join consensus on welcoming the establishment of the
ICC." He added the United States was committed to working with other countries
in bringing to justice those responsible for genocide. Persson criticized the
U.S. position, citing the progress made by U.N.-sponsored war crimes tribunals
set up to prosecute former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and leaders
of the 1994 mass slaughter of civilians in Rwanda. "There is reason to
also create something that is permanent, that goes beyond these two special
cases," he said. "I think it's surprising that this opinion hasn't
won in the USA."
In their declaration, delegates committed to "develop practical tools and
mechanisms" to quickly identify genocidal threats. The declaration, which
isn't legally binding, also called for signatories to "educate youth and
the wider public" about the dangers of genocide. Delegates also welcomed
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal to set up a U.N. committee and
a "special rapporteur" to monitor violations of human rights and threats
to international peace and security. The conference was the fourth and final
in a series of annual conventions called the Stockholm International Forum,
which began with a conference on the Holocaust in 2000. Roughly 1,000 delegates
attended, including a dozen heads of state or government, to discuss how to
deal with threats of coming genocide, mass killings or ethnic cleansing. European
Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said military intervention was not
the best way to prevent genocide and should only be used as a last resort. "Sometimes
you have to stop a situation that is dramatic if you cannot do it with economic
measures or nice words," Solana said. "But we have to be very clear
that prevention is not military."
AFP 27 January 2004 11:28 PM GMT
US dilutes anti-genocide declaration
Swedish PM Goeran Persson welcomes UN chief Kofi Annan
Delegates at the "Preventing Genocide" conference in Stockholm this
Wednesday were expected to issue the most powerful document ever condemning
mass killing. But US opposition to recognising ICC authority - widely considered
the most promising new tools in the fight against genocide - will make any declaration
less effective, according to delegates. The final draft, to be immediately adopted
through consensus by 50 countries, deals with all aspects of "ethnic cleansing"
and goes further than the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide.
International justice The conference secretary general, Krister Kumlin,
told journalists that: "We're talking about a consensus document here,
and that means everyone has to agree. "Both the US and Europe agree that
it's important to bring perpetrators to justice. The disagreement is about what
tool to use. "The conflict is obviously there. It's very sad, not least
because it was the United States that once took the initiative to create the
ICC," he added. But Washington fears the court could become a forum for
politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens, especially soldiers deployed
abroad. The White House has waged an international campaign to sign immunity
from prosecution pacts with various countries after the World Court came into
being in 2002.
VOA News January 28, 2004, 20:44 UTC
Stockholm Genocide Conference Closes with Pledge to Avoid Future Holocausts
Representatives of about 50 countries have concluded a three-day conference
in Stockholm on genocide with a declaration pledging to avoid future holocausts.
The delegates vowed to use and develop all tools and mechanisms to identify,
monitor, report and prevent future instances of mass murder and ethnic cleansing
around the world. They also agreed to consider proposals by United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan to create a U.N. Committee on the Prevention of Genocide
and for naming a special U.N. official who would report on efforts to prevent
genocide. But the conference's final declaration did not include language supporting
the creation of a permanent International Criminal Court. Observers said opposition
by the United States blocked the proposal. The Bush administration opposes the
permanent court, saying it could become a forum for politically-motivated prosecutions
of U.S. citizens abroad. The United States signed a U.N. treaty creating International
Criminal Court in 2000, during the Clinton administration, but withdrew its
signature two years later.The meeting was the last of four annual conferences
held in the so-called Stockholm International Forum. The Forum was created in
2000 to discuss ways to avoid future Holocausts.Some information for this report
provided by AP and AFP.
Aljazeera.Net 28 January 2004 4:49 PM GMT
Move to fight genocide endorsed Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson
said he was disappointed by the US stance
Fifty-five countries have signed a declaration to fight genocide and ethnic
cleansing, but left out any mention of the International Criminal Court because
of US objections. An overwhelming majority of delegates at the three-day conference
in Stockholm on preventing genocide backed the ICC, but had no hopes of reversing
staunch US opposition to the court, Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson said.After
the conference, Persson told reporters he was disappointed by the US stance.
However, he conceded that to believe an "international conference in Stockholm
suddenly will reverse (US President) George Bush's foreign policy in the beginning
of an electoral campaign, that's not very realistic."
The 1998 Rome Statute establishing the ICC has been ratified by 90 countries,
but the court faces opposition from the United States. Bush administration officials
fear that Americans, particularly soldiers abroad, could fall victim to politically
motivated prosecutions.The head of the US delegation to the conference, ambassador-at-large
for war crimes issues, Pierre-Richard Prosper, said he did not pressure other
delegates to leave out the ICC from the declaration."There was no pressure,"
Prosper told reporters. "The reason was that they wanted to reach a consensus
and clearly we could not join consensus on welcoming the establishment of the
ICC."Persson criticised the US position, citing the progress made by UN-sponsored
war crimes tribunals set up to prosecute former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic and leaders of the 1994 mass slaughter of civilians in Rwanda. "There
is reason to also create something that is permanent, that goes beyond these
two special cases," he said. "I think it's surprising that this opinion
hasn't won in the USA."
Credibility of UN council
Persson also said that the future credibility of the United Nations Security
Council will depend on India being offered a permanent seat "Is it possible
to have in the future a credible multilateral organisation carrying the whole
globe, without, for instance, letting in the biggest country according to population,
at least soon, India?," Persson asked. "Is that possible? Of course
not."
One of the topics debated at the conference, was how to reform the UN to better
respond to crises where genocide or the possibility of genocide become apparent.
With a population of more than one billion, India has long sought a permanent
seat on the UN Security Council, contending that the current membership - Britain,
China, France, Russia and the United States - no longer represents today's world
order. "We have to reform the Security Council," Persson said, pointing
out that a small country like Sweden depends on a working multilateral system
for its voice to be heard. "It's a crucial time because we realize that
multilateralism is under pressure," Persson said. "If the multilateralist
system does not work, we are in a situation where we don't have (any say) in
a future that is decided globally." - Agencies
Reuters January 28, 2004
Europe notes Holocaust amid anti-Semitism worry
BERLIN Germany on Tuesday led commemorations throughout Europe of the liberation
of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in a climate troubled by painful warnings of
a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz by Soviet troops Jan. 27, 1945, is marked in Germany as a memorial
to the millions of Jews, Gypsies and others killed in Nazi camps across Europe
during World War II. Remembrances were held in Poland at the site of Auschwitz,
Greece, Brussels as well as throughout Germany, including the Sachsenhausen
camp on the outskirts of Berlin. The anniversary this year comes in the wake
of accusations by Jewish leaders that Europe has been standing by as anti-Jewish
sentiment has reemerged, often in combination with hostility toward the state
of Israel. It is dismaying to see that anti-Semitism, both open
and latent, is spreading in our society, Wolfgang Thierse, president
of the German Parliament, said in a speech. Germany has made big efforts to
come to terms with its legacy since its defeat in 1945 and the European Union
itself is in large part the consequence of the Continents determination
not to relive the history that led to Auschwitz. The country has long been troubled
by low-level incidents of anti-Semitism. But charges this month from the World
Jewish Congress that the European Commission had censored a study showing Islamic
radicals and pro-Palestinian leftists behind anti-Semitic incidents in Europe
underlined concerns for the future. The World Jewish Congress criticisms angered
the Commission and led to a brief falling-out between it and Jewish groups.
An EU opinion poll found that a majority of European citizens considered Israel
a threat to world peace, but they also underlined fears that the old virus of
anti-Semitism may be taking new forms. Europe has a duty not to
upset the trust which has been won back, Simone Veil, a former president
of the European Parliament and a survivor of Auschwitz, told the German Parliament.
In a speech recalling her journey through the frozen cold and ice as retreating
German guards drove survivors west ahead of the advancing Soviet armies, Veil
said Europe could not afford to overlook the danger. Genocide danger is cited
Thirteen countries face the threat of genocide, with Sudan, Myanmar and Burundi
heading a list that also includes Iraq and Afghanistan, a U.S. researcher told
an international conference on preventing mass killings Tuesday in Stockholm,
Agence France-Presse reported. Sudan, Myanmar, Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic
Republic of Congo are in greatest danger of genocide, Barbara Harff of the U.S.
Center for International Development and Conflict Management told the conference
AFP 29 Jan 2004
Solana defends use of force to stop bloodshed in Yugoslavia
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana defended the 1999 NATO
bombing campaign in Yugoslavia yesterday, saying it was necessary to protect
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Sometimes you have to stop a situation, and
if you cannot stop it with words, then you have to stop it with force,
Solana, in Stockholm for an international conference on genocide, told journalists.
I think we did the right thing. If you look at conditions at the time,
I think everyone would have done the same thing, said Solana, who was
NATO secretary-general at the time of the campaign.
Gulf News 28 Jan 2004 www.gulf-news.com
Gulf News says: Actions speak louder than words
There can be no more important issue, and no more binding obligation, than the
prevention of genocide." So said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
at the Stockholm International forum on Monday. He went on to remind delegates
that shortly after World War I, when the words "never again" were spoken by
everyone, the UN General assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948, which entered into force three
years later. Currently, some 130 states are now parties to that agreement. So,
with an international law in force for over 50 years, it would be reasonable
to think no genocide or atrocities had occurred in that time, since "the world
cared" and was prepared to action accordingly. But that is far from the truth:
There have been numerous atrocities around the world in that time. In recent
memory is Yugoslavia and Rwanda, where the UN failed spectacularly. Earlier
was Cambodia and Vietnam. Presently there is Nepal and Burma. Also various African
nations are suffering the effects of genocide because of disease and want; there
are probably other nations where ethnic cleansing is taking place but, as yet,
the fact has failed to get public attention. To counter these continual atrocities
that arise from time to time globally, Annan has suggested that the signatories
to the Genocide Convention form a special committee to review reports and recommend
action. To ensure that the UN Security Council is kept alert to these crimes,
Annan also proposes the appointment of a special rapporteur to make early reports
to the Council. Annan also suggests that in extreme cases military force be
used pre-emptively to stall any perceived crimes. Such recommendations are sound,
but it will require a very different attitude on the part of UN members, who
prefer to diplomatically and bureaucratically cogitate, while people are massacred,
rather than take action. Gulf News is the leading English language newspaper
of the United Arab Emirates and takes pride in its solid coverage of the Gulf
region.
Yerkir 29 Jan 2004 www.yerkir.am
Swedish prime minister invited to participate in international conference
marking Armenian Genocide's 90th anniversary
YEREVAN. (YERKIR). - Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian met on Wednesday
with his Swedish counterpart Goran Persson, who praised Margarian's speech at
the Genocide Prevention forum as impressive, and welcomed Margarian's proposal
to declare 2005 a year of fighting against genocides. The Swedish prime minister
conveyed hope that Turkey would react to the positive message sent by Armenia
and would open its border, and the two countries would find common grounds for
cooperation. "Turkey is on the road to join the European Union, and joining
the EU also means marinating friendly relations with neighbors," Persson was
quoted as saying. During their meeting, Prime Minister Margarian invited the
Swedish prime minister to participate in an international conference marking
the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, to be held in Yerevan in 2005.
www.armenpress.am 29 Jan 2004
TURKEY'S RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WOULD TAKE IT A STEP FORWARD TO
DEMOCRACY STOCKHOLM, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS: Ucel Acer from the Turkish
delegation to the Stockholm International Forum on Preventing Genocide; Threats
and Responsibilities, who is also an expert in international law at Turkish
Bogac University, told Armenpress that establishing of an international day
to commemorate genocide victims would be an effective measure in the overall
efforts aimed at preventing the repetition of such crimes in future. Speaking
to Armenpress correspondent on the sidelines of the conference, the Turkish
experts said that setting a genocide commemoration day would also help raise
the general awareness of peoples of that crime. Asked to share his views on
a suggestion by Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian at the Forum to declare
the year of 2005 the year of struggle against violation of human rights, and
commemoration of the victims of wars and genocides, Ucel Acer said: "I do not
think that the year of 2005 has anything to do with what happened in 1915 (in
2005 the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be marked)." According
to him, Armenians and Turks have to seek for establishment of good neighborly
relations, but look into the past, as Armenians in Diaspora, who he said fail
to realize the importance of normal relations between Turkey and Armenia. "They
are talking about the facts of the past, but we have to look in future," he
said, adding that constant accusations on both sides are just adding to the
hatred. The Turkish professor also downplayed the possible effect of his government's
official recognition of the genocide to diffuse the political atmosphere of
the region and open new avenues of cooperation. Another participant of the conference,
Payam Akhavan, a former member of the international court in the Hague, said,
when speaking to Armenpress that the failure of governments to condemn the Armenian
genocide led to the systematic annihilation of Jews by the nazi Germany "By
acknowledging the 1915 genocide Turkey would make a step forward to democracy
and get rid of its burden of past ," he said.
Inter Press Service 30 Jan 2004
RIGHTS: Preventing the Prevention of Genocide - Ritt Goldstein
STOCKHOLM, Jan 30 (IPS) - The first intergovernmental conference on genocide
to be held since 1948 ended this week in Stockholm with political fireworks
within the conference hall marking its finish. Before representatives from 55
nations, former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans said U.S. officials
had been using the conference to lobby against the International Criminal Court
(ICC), the very body created to try crimes against humanity like genocide. The
United States has withdrawn from the Rome Treaty of 1998 that created the ICC.
"I'm distressed to hear that the same old squeeze has been put on the national
delegations all over again at this conference," Evans said. "And in
the otherwise admirable declaration we have emerging from it there is no mention
of the International Criminal Court...this is just indefensible." Evans
continued to berate the Bush administration for blocking global efforts to create
such accountability structures. His remarks were greeted with thunderous ovation.
The dramatic intervention highlighted the challenge before the Stockholm International
Forum 2004, as the conference was called. The meeting Jan. 26- 28 drew political
leaders, officials, academics and members of non- governmental organisations.
The Swedish government hosted the conference. On the one hand United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan drew support for his proposal to set up a committee
on the prevention of genocide. On the other, delegates saw just what could be
preventing the prevention of genocide. Annan pointed to tragedies spawned by
a lack of political will. He said there had been deliberate efforts to mislabel
genocide, and that some states "even refused to call it by its name, to
avoid fulfilling their obligations." Annan said a special rapporteur should
be created along with the committee on the prevention of genocide, the rapporteur
reporting "directly to the Security Council."
Genocide is a threat that must be addressed with "strong and united political
action and, in extreme cases, by military action," he said. But cutting
to the crux of the issue, Annan asked: "The question is, do we have the
will?" Secretary-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross
Jakob Kellenberger also saw a "lack of will to act."
The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) endorsed Annan's proposal. It said a
key facet of the initiative is that no one "would be able to say they didn't
know." Describing the slaughter of between 800,000 and a million people
in Rwanda in 1994, Annan said "a lack of resources and a lack of will to
take on the commitment which would have been necessary" created conditions
for the disaster. "Instead of reinforcing our troops, we withdrew them,"
Annan said. "The gravest mistakes were made by member states, particularly
in the way decisions were taken in the Security Council." While Annan and
others spoke of the "responsibility" of humanitarian intervention,
a current of concern ran through this. Annan emphasised the imperative for "clear
ground rules to distinguish between genuine threats of genocide, which require
a military solution, and other situations where force would not be legitimate."
In the light of such concerns, the conference debated whether terrorism and
weapons of mass destruction were 'genocidal' threats, casting the shadow of
the war on terror over discussions.
'Genocide; a background paper' commissioned by the Swedish Government from Sweden's
Lund University raised further questions. The paper asked if "the very
structure of modern bureaucratic society is the root cause of the genocidal
impulse." The paper paralleled questions examined by U.S. political scientist
and philosopher Hannah Arendt in her book 'Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on
the Banality of Evil' (Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi colonel executed for transporting
countless Jews to extermination camps). The authors of the Lund university paper,
professors of history Kristian Gerner and Klas-Göran Karlsson, examined
how a "pliant bureaucracy" equipped with administrative and weapons
technology can come to "solve what were seen as acute political and social
problems by murdering human beings on a mass scale." Gerner and Karlsson
noted such developments in Rwanda. They also pointed out that after Vietnam
invaded Cambodia, ending the 1975-1979 genocide which claimed more than 1.6
million lives, the "United Nations, the United States and China continued
to recognise the Khmer Rouge (which was responsible for the genocide) as Cambodia's
legitimate government."
The U.S. delegation raised the issue of action against "recurring atrocities"
in southern Sudan and the eastern and Ituri regions of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Both the Congolese regions and southern Sudan are rich in oil,
casting a less than altruistic light on the Bush Administration motives. In
the closing minutes of the conference, Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson
emphasised the need for UN revision and renewal to safeguard multilateralism
and the rights of the weak. "If we fail, then we will see the multilateral
UN becoming weaker and weaker.and I fear such a situation," he said.
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.
Statement by Mr. Iacovos Keravnos, Minister of Labour and Social Insurance of the Republic of Cyprus, at the Stockholm International Forum 2004 on Prevention Genocide Stockholm, 26 January 2004 http://www.pio.gov.cy/news/special_issues/special_issue163.htm
memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SR2504
January 27, 2004 No.25 Contemporary Islamist Ideology Permitting Genocidal Murder Today, MEMRI's President Yigal Carmon presented the following paper to the 2004 Stockholm International Forum on Preventing Genocide:
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