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Genocide Prevention

Announcements and Recent Analysis

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  • Political Repression Threatens Increased Violence Against Civilians in Congo

    Three months after presidential and parliamentary elections and despite new members of the National Assembly having assumed their posts, the Democratic Republic of Congo still faces its most significant political crisis since the 2002 end of its international and civil wars. Opposition leader and head of the UDPS party Etienne Tshisekedi and his supporters firmly believe that he won the disputed November 28 elections, in which victory was claimed by incumbent President Joseph Kabila despite widespread reports of electoral fraud and intimidation. Leaders of the country’s powerful Catholic Church are also backing Tshisekedi’s challenge to Kabila’s legitimacy.  

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  • Identifying Genocide and Related Forms of Mass Atrocity

    In a recent paper, Scott Straus, a 2011 Museum Fellow with the Committee on Conscience, explains why it is important for those concerned about preventing genocide to understand what genocide is and what it is not, how we can recognize it in its early stages, and what distinguishes genocide from other forms of mass atrocity. This conceptual analysis, he argues, will provide a framework for decision making about when and how to engage in specific cases.  

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  • Crimes Against Humanity in Syria

    We know from history that genocide and related crimes against humanity do not just arise spontaneously. They often take place in the context of civil war, when leaders commit such crimes to advance their goals of eliminating opposition or perceived enemies. In the civil conflict now raging in Syria, reporting by independent journalists and the United Nations leaves little doubt that conditions are being laid for a dramatic escalation of violence against civilians, possibly based on their membership in religious sects. Right now the majority Sunni population, perceived by the Alawite-dominated regime to be leading the opposition, are the primary victims, but if conditions deteriorate, other groups—including Druze, Christians, and Alawites themselves—could also be targeted.  

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  • Besieged in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

    New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, on his latest reporting mission to Sudan this week, presents a stark reminder of an overlooked conflict where thousands of lives have already been lost and hundreds of thousands more remain at risk.  

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  • Annual Threat Assessment Highlights Mass Atrocity Prevention

    Today, the President's Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, delivered to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence his annual threat assessment (PDF; external link). As has been the case since 2009, today's briefing included a section specifically devoted to mass atrocities, whose prevention the President has determined is in the national security interest of the United States.  

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  • An International Response to Prevent Future Genocides

    Mary Creagh, British Member of Parliament for Wakefield, reflects upon International Holocaust Memorial Day by noting President Obama’s August 2011 Presidential Directive on Mass Atrocities (external link), as a “bold step to allow the US government to respond quickly to instances of potential mass atrocities and genocide.”  

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  • Post-Independence, a Resurgence of Violence in South Sudan

    Disturbing news emerged from South Sudan this past week as reports surfaced of some of the worst inter-ethnic violence there in months. While the battle among tribes over scarce water and grazing resources is not new in South Sudan, the scale and brutality of the violence and what it portends for broader national unity is cause for alarm. Perhaps of even greater concern is the UN's inability to prevent the violence.  

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  • Tensions on the Rise in Post-election Congo

    First, the good news: in the wake of the Democratic Republic of Congo's disputed presidential election, we have yet to see any instances of mass violence. That's about the only good news, however. Tensions are high, the opposition has rejected the official election results (which gave 49% to incumbent President Joseph Kabila), and opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi is openly calling on the army to defect to his side and asking them to bring Kabila to him alive. Tshisekedi believes that he won the election with 56% of the vote and has planned his own inauguration ceremony in the capital this Friday. Kabila, meanwhile, will be inaugurated on Tuesday. Tshisekedi and other opposition leaders have called on the Congolese to make Tuesday a day of “ghost cities,” wherein everything will be quiet as people stay home in protest.  

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  • Statement on Congolese Elections

    We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are deeply troubled by the lack of critical engagement that the international community has shown throughout the electoral process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Carter Center, the European Union, the Catholic Church and other national election observation organizations found that the elections held on November 28, 2011 were deeply flawed and marred by widespread irregularities. In order to prevent further violence and provide legitimacy to the government, we call on the United States and other members of the international community to take these immediate steps:  

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Country Case Studies
Country Case Studies

Find information on historical cases of genocide and other atrocities.