Value​ Of UN Genoc​ide Conve​ntion​ Quest​ioned​

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

Value​ Of UN Genoc​ide Conve​ntion​ Quest​ioned​


One Million Killed In Iraq
No Wonder The World Hates America


s going to be held responsible, just elect another phoney president will do


A Bosnian Muslim at the memorial centre near Srebrenica, where as many as 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered by Serbs

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Value of UN Genocide Convention questioned
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Swiss Info
December 16, 2008

http://www. swissinfo. ch/eng/front/Value_of_UN_Genocide_Convention...

The effectiveness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains unsatisfactory, according to experts at an international conference in Bern
"Never again!" said the world after the atrocities committed by the Nazis, as a result of which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the UN Genocide Convention on December 9, 1948

To mark the occasion, experts from around the world gathered in the Swiss capital on Monday to assess the possibilities and limits of this instrument of genocide prevention 60 years on

Questions addressed at the conference, which was organised by the Society for Threatened Peoples, included: why have genocides occurred after 1948, for example in Rwanda? What role does the UN play in the prevention of genocide? How can genocide be prevented in the future? And what are the roles of states, the UN, civil society and other actors in the prevention of genocide?

Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, president of the Society for Threatened Peoples, admitted with regret that the "never again" promise hadn't been kept

"I've looked at the list of all the genocides of the past century. One just follows the other," she told swissinfo.
"The international community has failed to prevent genocides, which is the main aim of the convention"

Vermot-Mangold, a parliamentarian for the centre-left Social Democratic Party, cited the genocides and crimes that had elements of genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Darfur

Must be developed
So is the UN Genocide Convention nothing more than a scrap of paper?

"I wouldn't put it like that.
I certainly believe the convention enables intervention in conflicts," she said

"Mediation and peace initiatives with rebels, government and getting the various parties sitting round a table – the convention, despite everything, is still an instrument for that"

Vermot-Mangold added however that the convention must be developed and taken more seriously

Juan E.
Mendez, who served as a UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide from 2004-2007, was also in Bern and has a similar view: "The convention calls for the prevention of genocide, but it doesn't say how"

For the Argentinian lawyer, currently President of the International Center for Transitional Justice in New York, the following are vital: punishment of those responsible for genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC); humanitarian aid and compensation for the victims, and the negotiation of peace between all parties

Swiss role
Switzerland signed the UN Genocide Convention in 2000 and has since been legally bound and responsible for improving its effectiveness and significance

Although Vermot-Mangold believes not all countries are doing enough in this respect, she praises Switzerland

"We are very active in Darfur – and not just diplomatically," she said. "There are people acting as mediators and doing excellent work. Switzerland can do that as a small, neutral country – we have a lot of experience of that.
This important work must be supported and recognised"

Creativity

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has pursued a policy of negotiating with all sides in a conflict – even with leaders who it is known have committed crimes against humanity

Carla Del Ponte, the Swiss lawyer who was previously chief prosecutor of two UN international criminal law tribunals, had a completely different view – arrest now, talk later

Vermot-Mangold backs Calmy-Rey's policy, citing an example from Darfur.
There, she said, women's organisations talk with offenders' mothers to try to get them to talk some sense into their sons

"Various ideas and creativity are needed in conflicts to have a conciliatory effect and to stop genocide," she said

"The UN Genocide Convention can be an instrument for that"

swissinfo, based on an article in German by Jean-Michel Berthoud.