Against the Crime of Genocide
Paweł Sawicki
The 3rd Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide was held in 2018 in Yerevan in Armenia and was dedicated to the issues of genocide prevention through education, culture and museums. It examined the challenges and opportunities, experiences and perspectives of the genocide education.
“Education has pivotal significance in effectively countering the gravest challenges that the Humanity faces. In this regard the education on genocide prevention is an essential pillar of prevention efforts. The 2015 UN Human Rights Council Resolution 28/34 on genocide prevention highlights the importance of education and appeals to the governments of the member states to support raising awareness on genocide prevention, through promotion of relevant educational programs. The role of genocide education and remembrance has been underlined by regional security organizations as well, particularly the OSCE, the structures of which have been tasked to implement the commitments undertaken by participating states in this regard,” wrote the organizers of the Forum.
This book encompasses presentations that address among other things the role of genocide museums, memorial sites and institutes for perpetuation of remembrance, as well as such complex issues as working with groups-in-conflict in non-traditional educational set- tings in which reconciliation, memory, and empathy help to restore a modicum of trust and open communication; combatting genocide denial and propaganda of xenophobia. It also offers deliberations which might be helpful for enhanced understanding of ‘what we want to prevent in our present and for our future, and how to do it’, as well as the essence of fight for Fairness and Justice.
The Plenary Session was dedicated to the 70th anniversaries of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The speakers focused on the background of the adoption of Genocide Convention, its role, steps undertaken in accordance to it, results and lessons learnt, as well as the supplementary roles of this two simultaneously adopted international tools in the context of protection of individuals and groups.
The panel discussions were centered on the issues of supporting genocide prevention through perpetuation of remembrance days of genocide victims, particularly, the role of genocide museums, memorial sites and institutes in the fight against the crime of genocide. The new approaches to education and art about genocide and its prevention, training projects and public education strategies, including the use of social media were the focus of attention of eminent trainers, media activists, leaders of NGOs and university professors, who looked into how the education can best be leveraged to have a lasting effect on the society.