"THE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF GENOCIDES AS A MEANS OF PREVENTION"

LRAGIR.AM
17:44:57 – 14/04/2009

Yerevan, 14 April, 2009 – "Areg" Scientific-Cultural Youth Association
with the support of the UN Department of Public Information organized
a round-table discussion entitled "The International Recognition of
Genocides as a Means of Prevention".

The massacre of Armenians carried out by the Ottoman Turks became
a signal for the international community to prevent people from
such crimes; the term "genocide" was coined and circulated within
historical, political and legal framework, while on 9 December,
1948 the United Nations Organization adopted the "Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" being convinced
that international cooperation for liberating humanity from that
terrible tragedy is an utmost necessity.

A little after the 60th anniversary of the Convention, throwing a
glance on the series of genocides we get persuaded that unpunished
crimes have the habit of being repeated. Thus, the Armenian Genocide
became a precedent for the Jewish Holocaust, the Rwanda Genocide and
other similar crimes, while its international recognition would have
probably put an end to this hideous crime against humanity.

The round-table speakers were the Head of the International
Organizations Department of MFA, Dziunik Aghajanyan, the Deputy
Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Suren Manukyan,
and the Officer-in-Charge of UN Department of Public Information
Armine Halajyan. They referred to the efforts of the Republic of
Armenia to get international recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
touched upon the struggle against denial, and the role of the UN
in preventing genocide. During the discussion that followed the
participants – representatives of NGOs, mass media and students
among them, expressed their righteous resentment towards crimes
against humanity and expressed their solidarity with the victims of
genocide. Indifference and unwillingness to prevent give way to new
crimes culminating in genocides. Events should be named accordingly and
the perpetrators should be punished. The participants also mentioned
that to accomplish the above-mentioned cooperation of all nations is
required. That is the means to get away with genocide.

In these days the 15th Anniversary of Genocide in Rwanda is being
commemorated all around the world. On this occasion the UN Secretary
General said in his message: "… The United Nations continues
its vital work to avert future tragedies. We have intensified
our focus on conflict prevention, and built up our mediation
capacity. … Preventing genocide is a collective responsibility. Only
by meeting this challenge can we match the resolve of the survivors
and truly honour the memory of those who died in Rwanda 15 years ago."

Having in mind the above mentioned, and on the threshold of the
upcoming Armenian Genocide anniversary it is quite appropriate to once
again bring the attention of the international community and especially
of youth on the inhuman phenomenon of genocide to UNDERSTAND, RECOGNIZE
and PREVENT it.