A commitment to Never Again

Tomorrow, December 18, the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), will hold a one-day conference entitled “Preventing Genocide” in Kigali.At this conference, participants will examine the Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, which was adopted by the United Nations on December 9, 1948, and which defines genocide as “Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group…”a)Killing members of the group;b)Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;c)Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;d)Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;e)Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group[1].The Genocide Convention obligates all state parties to work towards the prevention of genocide. The conference, which will attract local and international scholars, activists, lawyers, government officials, and other prominent leaders, will discuss key themes regarding the prevention of genocide.Given the broad scope of the topic, the conference will be organised around several areas of focus, in order to address the various issues relating to the Genocide Convention.Preventing genocide requires a comprehensive set of mechanisms and strategies. While there are numerous potential avenues for genocide prevention, this conference will focus on mechanisms for preventing the formation of extremist groups, prejudice and discrimination, and cultures of impunity. Prejudice and discrimination are widely recognised by scholars as key factors contributing to genocide. Indeed, as genocide involves the intent to destroy a group, that group must first be identified and devalued. Extremist groups within societies often propagate these exclusionary and dehumanising ideologies and incite genocide, as has been the case in many of the genocides that have occurred over the last several decades. In a culture of impunity, such extremist groups and other leaders, as well as citizens, are given free rein to spread their exclusionary ideologies, which often lead to violence. This is the third such event organised by CNLG. In 2011, the Commission set up the Research and Documentation Centre on Genocide (RDCG) in fulfillment of Article 179 of the Rwanda Constitution.One of RDCG’s core missions is to serve as a permanent institution for the exchange of ideas on genocide and its consequences, as well as on strategies for prevention. It is mandated to conduct research on genocide, to house the Gacaca files and other archival records, and to create and maintain a library for genocide studies. The focus on understanding and preventing genocide is integral to each of these goals.The “Preventing Genocide” conference will showcase papers from renowned researchers that will be collected and published into a single volume to be placed in the Center’s library. In addition, the conference will help bring together a growing network of individuals and organisations working on genocide research and prevention. The objective is to make this conference an annual event, preferably on or around December 9 in honor of the date that the Genocide Convention was adopted.While the themes will vary, the conference series will seek to make continued contributions to the field of genocide studiesThe writer is Director General,Research and Documentation Centre on Genocide at CNLG.

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A commitment to Never Again