Tag: genocide
Explainer: What is the Genocide Convention?
Filed with the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ), a UN court, on 29 December, South Africa’s case stated that Israel, particularly since 7 October, “has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute direct and overt incitement to genocide”. So, what is the Genocide Convention? The basics The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of…
Read MoreWorld News in Brief: Nearly a million children displaced in Gaza, Guatemala ‘coup’ concerns, ‘enduring menace’ of genocide
Women and children are bearing the brunt in terms of deaths and injuries as Israeli troops battle Palestinian militants across the enclave, with nowhere safe to go, and aid distribution stymied by war, insufficient access and insufficient supplies crossing into the Strip. Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said…
Read MoreStories from the UN Archive: The man who defined genocide
On the eve of International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, 9 December, we looked at the origin of the word. Mr. Lemkin developed the term partly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but…
Read MoreUN warns of heightened risk of genocide and atrocity crimes in Ethiopia
“The incident reports that we see coming out of Ethiopia are deeply disturbing and constitute a call for action,” said Alice Wairimu Nderitu. “I want to particularly draw the attention of the global community to the continued presence of risk factors for genocide and related atrocity crimes in the country,” she warned on Tuesday. There…
Read MoreArrest of top Rwandan genocide fugitive shows ‘justice will be done’
Fulgence Kayishema is alleged to have orchestrated the killing of approximately 2,000 Tutsi refugees at Nyange Catholic Church during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) said in a statement. He was arrested in South Africa on Wednesday in a joint operation between the IRMCT Office of the Prosecutor and the…
Read MoreINTERVIEW: How hate speech triggered Rwandan genocide
“Every time I talk about it, I cry,” she told UN News, describing how propaganda spread messages of hate that sparked a deadly wave of unspeakable violence. She lost 60 family members and friends in the mass slaughter. Ahead of the UN General Assembly’s commemoration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide…
Read More‘It can happen anywhere’: General Assembly reflects on Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda
“We are together to mourn the more than one million children, women, and men who perished in 100 days of horror 29 years ago,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “We pay tribute to the resilience of the survivors [and] recognize the journey of the Rwandan people towards healing, restoration, and reconciliation. And we remember –…
Read MoreFirst Person: Keeping memories of Rwandan genocide victims alive
A toddler’s dress, and a five-year-old’s dress and sweater. Washed, cleaned, but still stained with blood. These are the personal items that Immaculée Songa donated to “Stories of Survival and Remembrance - A call to action for genocide prevention,” currently on show at UN Headquarters, along with a photo album, showing her daughters, Raissa and…
Read MoreReflecting on genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Guterres urges all nations to stand firm against rising hate, intolerance
“We mourn the more than one million children, women, and men who perished in one hundred days of horror 29 years ago,” António Guterres said in his annual commemorative message on the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. He went on to say that: “We honour the memory…
Read MoreNigeria: UN genocide expert warns against worsening security situation
Alice Nderitu expressed her strongest condemnation for the 24 January airstrike in which at least 40 herders, mainly ethnic Fulani, were killed, and scores of other civilians were injured. The incident occurred in a village on the border of two states, Nasarawa and Benue. She recalled that another airstrike in 2017, resulted in 54 civilian…
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