Note to Correspondents

United Nations to Mark Sixty-fifth Anniversary of Genocide Convention

 

at New York Headquarters, 9 December

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and experts in the field of genocide prevention and international justice will mark the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on 9 December.

Organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme in partnership with the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, the high-level discussion titled “From Prevention to Protection: the Genocide Convention 65 Years On” will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, Conference Building, New York Headquarters.

Following opening remarks by the Secretary-General, participants will examine genocide-prevention policy, international justice, reconciliation, the future outlook of prevention and protection and the role of civil society and youth in that effort.  Speakers will include Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information; Adama Dieng, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide; Amady Ba, Head of the International Cooperation Section, of the International Criminal Court; Stuart E. Eizenstat, former Ambassador of the United States to the European Union; María Cristina Perceval, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations; and Mustafa Haid, Founder and Executive Director of Dawlaty, Beirut.  Tunku Varadarajan, Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Daily Beast columnist, will engage the audience in a question-and-answer session.

Adopted on 9 December 1948 during the first session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Convention is largely an outcome of the world’s response to the crimes committed by the Nazis against Jews and other minority groups during the Second World War.  Drafted by three giants of the human rights field — Raphael Lemkin, Vespasian Pella and Henry Donnedieu de Vabres — it defines genocide as any act committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.  The Convention declares genocide a crime under international law.  Those who commit, conspire to commit, or incite others to commit genocide would be found guilty of the crime.

To register for the event, please contact holocaustremembrance@un.org.

Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme

The United Nations Department of Public Information’s Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme was established by General Assembly resolution 60/7 in 2006 to further education about and remembrance of the Holocaust so as to help prevent future acts of genocide.  Its multifaceted programme includes online and print educational products, seminars, a film series and the annual worldwide observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, held each 27 January.

United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and Responsibility to Protect

The United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect supports the work of the Special Advisers to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide and on the Responsibility to Protect to advance national and international efforts to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, as well as their incitement.

Media Contacts:  Kimberly Mann, Manager, the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme:  mann@un.org, or +1 212 963 6835.  Gillian Kitley, Senior Officer, United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect:  kitley@un.org or +1 212 963 3869   For media accreditation, please visit http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/request.shtml.

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For information media • not an official record