Preventing Genocide: An Interview with UN Ambassador Susan Rice
Video: US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice discusses the work the United Nations and the US government are doing to better prevent genocide and mass atrocities.
Video: US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice discusses the work the United Nations and the US government are doing to better prevent genocide and mass atrocities.
Two thirds of Americans believe that genocide is preventable, and almost 70 percent think the United States should act to prevent or stop genocide and mass atrocities in other parts of the world, according to a new poll
Sixty-seven years after the Holocaust, genocide and crimes against humanity continue, as repressive regimes and cruel perpetrators target and kill innocent people around the world because of who they are. On July 24, 2012 the Museum will host a forward looking symposium to explore what can be done to prevent these atrocities in the future.
Watch a clip from this year's Aspen Ideas Festival (external link), where Michael Abramowitz, Director of the Museum's genocide prevention program, discusses what role the U.S. and international community has in protecting civilians around the world from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.
Today, the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (external link) sentenced convicted former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor to a term of 50 years in prison for planning and for aiding and abetting crimes committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone during the country's decade-long civil war. These crimes included acts of terrorism, murder, rape, sexual slavery and conscripting or enlisting of child soldiers, among others. Taylor is the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremburg trials after World War II.
New presidential initiatives launched during an election year often suffer from the curse of poor timing—being reduced to a punch line in attack ads or the victim of opposition research. But a critical issue has emerged during this 2012 campaign that should command bipartisan appeal.
Last August, President Obama, in announcing a directive to explore how to improve the US Government’s capacity to respond to genocide and threats of genocide, declared that genocide prevention was in the national security interest of the United States and one of our core moral responsibilities.
The last few weeks have brought more evidence of the power of individuals—whether movie stars like George Clooney in Sudan or the little known creators of the Kony 2012 viral video—to shine a light on the world’s worst crimes. This kind of attention is usually for the good, forcing government leaders to confront dire situations that do not typically get the kind of policy focus they deserve.
Marking a full year of violent suppression of anti-government protests in Syria, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng, and on the Responsibility to Protect, Edward Luck, released the following statement on March 15:
Yesterday, March 14, the International Criminal Court (ICC) found Thomas Lubanga Dyilo guilty of recruiting and using child soldiers between 2002 and 2003 during the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lubanga was convicted of “conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities.” This landmark decision is the ICC’s first verdict since its creation a decade ago.