Note to Correspondents

Department of Public Information TO ORGANIZE ROUND TABLE

ON UNITED NATIONS, RESPONSE TO GENOCIDE

The “Holocaust and the United Nations” outreach programme will organize a round table discussion under the theme, "Remembrance and Beyond:  The United Nations and the Response to Genocide” on 14 September 2006 from 6 pm to 8 pm in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at the United Nations Headquarters.

Since the founding of the United Nations in the wake of the Holocaust and the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the world has witnessed the repeated persistence of such atrocities, despite the promise of “never again”.  Featuring the participation of Dr. David Hamburg, Chair of the Secretary-General’s Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention, the event will focus on the historical response of the international community to acts of genocide, and the necessary steps to be taken to confront such tragedies in the present and prevent them from recurring in the future.

The round table discussion will be moderated by Mr. Raymond Sommereyns, Director of the Outreach Division and will include a statement by Dr. Hamburg on the work of the Advisory Committee.  Additional discussion participants will include Mr. Olara Otunnu, President, LBL Foundation for Children; H.E. Ambassador Sylvester Ekundayo Rowe, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations; Dr. Helen Fein, Associate at the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University; and Mr. Craig Mokhiber, Deputy Director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The United Nations Department of Public Information’s “Holocaust and the United Nations” outreach programme has been established in the context of General Assembly resolution 60/7, in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide.

Media representatives, Government delegates and representatives of non-governmental organizations with a valid United Nations grounds pass are invited to attend.

For further information, please contact Kimberly Mann at 212 963 6835 or mann@un.org.  For more information on the “Holocaust and the United Nations” outreach programme, please visit www.un.org/holocaustremembrance.

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For information media • not an official record