Iran and Inciting Genocide
Michael Gerson focuses attention on the inflammatory rhetoric of Iranian leadership, suggesting that it is not only hate speech, but may also border on incitement to genocide.
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UN Approves Arms Trade Treaty
In a landmark agreement, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which seeks to keep weapons out of the hands of would-be perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, or other war crimes.
Danger of Escalating Sectarian Violence in Burma
The outbreak of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in central Burma last week indicates that there is “considerable risk” of further sectarian violence in the country.
Is Genocide in Syria’s Future?
In June 2012, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum expressed grave concern about the escalating violence in Syria and warned that the increasingly sectarian nature of that violence could, if unchecked, lead to genocide.
The Kenyan Elections: Peace Happened
In a recent blog on the Huffington Post, Susan Benesch, the Museum’s Edith Everett Genocide Prevention Fellow, discusses the myriad of campaigns and initiatives Kenyans and the international community put in place to prevent violence during the March 4 elections.
Death Cheats Justice in Cambodia
One of the most senior of the Khmer Rouge leaders on trial in Cambodia for the mass atrocities committed in that country between 1975 and 1979 has died.
EU Releases Prevention of Mass Atrocities Assessment
The Task Force on the European Union Prevention of Mass Atrocities delivered its assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the EU’s ability to respond to mass atrocities. This effort in many ways parallels the work of the Museum co-sponsored Genocide Prevention Task Force (GPTF), which in 2008 put forward a blueprint for U.S. policymakers to detect, prevent and respond to genocide and mass atrocities.
Kenyans Call for Calm While Awaiting Election Outcome
Kenyans have every right to be impatient, since they still don't know who they elected president, after standing under the blazing sun for up to six hours on Monday, to vote. Election day generally went well, as in 2007—prior to the outbreak of post-election violence in which more than 1,300 people were killed after that election's results were disputed. This time around, despite a deadly attack on a police station in the coastal city of Mombasa by a local separatist group and reports of voting irregularities, millions of voters cast their ballots peacefully and have been waiting patiently for the results. The count has gone slowly, and finally the electoral commission announced that its electronic vote-counting system had crashed, inspiring rumors that it was hacked.
Peace Propaganda is Not Enough to Save Kenya from Violence
One can hardly take a walk, turn on a TV, or even visit YouTube in Nairobi now without being bombarded by peace propaganda—rainbow graffiti murals, ads by soccer stars, PSAs, prayers, and of course a music video, “Rufftone and the GSU,” in which rows of troops from Kenya’s General Service Unit sway fetchingly in their combat fatigues and red berets, singing “let hatred not finish us…we forgive and love each other.” The GSU is a paramilitary force that deals with Kenyan civil disorder, for example by beating up students who demonstrated for multiparty elections a few years ago. Kenyans are keenly hoping that the GSU will be able to stick to singing during the national elections today.
Reflections on Rwanda and Cambodia
Determining what, exactly, motivated the mass killings under the Khmer Rouge government, from 1975-1979, and marked certain victims for death is an ongoing source of exploration among global human rights activists.
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Country Case Studies
Find information on historical cases of genocide and other atrocities.