In a column for GlobalPost, Bridget Conley-Zilkic, director of research and projects with the Museum's genocide prevention program, writes about how the world might have foreseen the recent outbreak of violence in Kyrgyzstan. For more information about how the U.S. can strengthen its capacity to prevent genocide and mass atrocities, view the Genocide Prevention Task Force.
Mike Abramowitz, Director of the Museum's Committee on Conscience, recently returned from Kampala, Uganda, where, as observers, Museum staff attended the Review Conference for the International Criminal Court. In a piece published in The Atlantic, Abramowitz discusses the Conference's significance and the challenges ahead, particularly over the fourth crime identified under the jurisdiction of the Court: the crime of aggression. Abramowitz also writes about meeting two women from northern Uganda, where the Lord's Resistance Army has murdered over twenty thousand people and abducted tens of thousands of children in the last twenty years.
As part of its new National Security Strategy (NSS), the Obama administration has committed the United States to engaging “proactively” with the international community to prevent mass atrocities and genocide.
Omar al-Bashir, who originally came to power in a 1989 military coup, won Sudan's presidency with an official vote count of 68%. The unsurprising outcome was widely criticized by international observers who cited election-related reports of intimidation, gerrymandering, and fraud. In South Sudan, incumbent candidate Salva Kiir won 93% of the vote to remain in office as president of the semiautonomous region, which is expected to vote for succession from Sudan next year. Leaders and parties in the south, however, are hardly united on the region's internal issues. Nine southern opposition parties have decided to challenge Mr. Kiir's victory -- and the count of 93% -- in court.
In commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum designated Stories of Freedom: What You Do Matters as the theme for Days of Remembrance 2010. Among the events the Museum held was an interview by Michael Abramowitz, Director of the Committee on Conscience at the Museum, with General Roméo Dallaire, former commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994. General Dallaire spoke about his experiences in Rwanda 16 years ago and the importance of increasing the will and capacity in government to respond to genocide today.
In commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum designated Stories of Freedom: What You Do Matters as the theme for Days of Remembrance 2010. Among the events the Museum held was an interview conducted by Sara Bloomfield, Director of the Museum, with Assistant Secretary of State Mike Posner. Posner addressed the challenges of fighting anti-Semitism and responding to genocide today. Assistant Secretary Posner complimented the work of the Genocide Prevention Task Force, which the Museum helped convene, and discussed progress that the Obama Administration has made in implementing the recommendations of the Task Force report.
On Sunday morning, April 11, Sudanese began arriving at the polls to vote in their country’s first multi-party elections in 24 years. In the days leading up to the election, however, the number of candidates vying for office became considerably more limited.
Joseline was 17 when genocide came to her village in Butamwe in central Rwanda in April 1994. As Hutu men and boys -- men and boys that Joseline had grown up with -- began killing and raping their Tutsi friends and neighbors, Joseline ran into the tall grass around her village. For three days, she hid there until the fields were set ablaze.
After visiting Chechnya on a fact-finding mission last month, British parliamentarians Jo Swinson and Frank Judd described the human rights situation in Grozny as "sinister and very disturbing." From 1999 to 2003, Judd was rapporteur to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe on Chechnya. He resigned from this position in 2003 in protest of the Chechen constitution referendum, which he believed was rigged and which ultimately gave Chechnya more autonomy, but stipulated that it remain firmly a part of Russia. Later that year, Judd explained the disappointments that led to his decision during a program at the Museum.
In just a little over one month, Sudan will face its first major elections in 24 years.
Find information on historical cases of genocide and other atrocities.