4 - 6 April 2011

Co-organized by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, the argentinian and the tanzanian Departements of Foreign Affairs

In complement to the formal statements found here-below, a number of additional articles on this theme have been published in the journal Politorbis 2/2009 - Genocide prevention. You can download this issue of Politorbis as a pdf file by clicking on the pertinent icon in the right-hand column.

Programme

April 4

18.15
Early Registration for participants at the Welcome reception
Zunftrestaurant “Schmiedstube”, Schmiedenplatz 5, Bern

18.30 – 21.00
Welcoming of participants and guest experts. 
Reception offered by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Switzerland
At the Zunftrestaurant “Schmiedstube”, Schmiedenplatz 5, Bern

April 5

08.30 – 09.00 Registration
Paul Klee Zentrum, Monument im Fruchtland 3, Bern

09.10 – 10.00 
Official opening by:
Peter Maurer, Secretary of State, FDFA, Switzerland
 Speech of Peter Maurer (pdf, 96 Kb)

Eduardo Acevedo Dí, Director General for Human Rights, MFA, Argentina
 Speech of Eduardo Acevedo Dí (pdf, 47 Kb)

Begum K. Taj, Ambassador of Tanzania, Paris
 Statement of Begum K. Taj (pdf, 57 Kb)

10.30 – 12.30
Panel I: What is genocide and how to prevent it?

Facilitator: Alexandre Fasel
Ambassador, Assistant State Secretary, FDFA, Switzerland 

Liberata Mulamula, Ambassador, Executive Secretary of the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Burundi 
 Statement by Liberata Mulamula (pdf, 74 Kb)

Yehuda Bauer, Hon. Chair, ITF, Professor of Holocaust Studies, Avraham
Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Israel
 Statement by Yehuda Bauer (pdf, 20 Kb)

Daniel Feierstein, Director, Centre for Genocide Studies, CONICET, UNTREF,
Argentina 
 Statement by Daniel Feierstein (pdf, 48 Kb)

Francis Deng, Special Adviser to the UNSG on the Prevention of Genocide
 Statement by Francis Deng (pdf, 76 Kb)

12.30 – 14.00 
Lunch

14.00 – 16.00
Panel II: Preventing genocide: role and responsibilities of state and
international actors; ways forward 

Facilitator: Karel de Beer
Chairman, Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education,
Remembrance and Research (ITF) 

Diane Orentlicher, Deputy of the Office of War Crimes Issues, Department of
State, Washington, D.C., USA 
Alice Ackermann, Head Section Prevention Policy and Planning, OSCE
Secretariat, Vienna 
 Statement by Alice Ackermann (pdf, 30 Kb)

Mona Rishmawi, Legal Advisor, Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Geneva 
 Statement by Mona Rishmawi (pdf, 35 Kb)

Rod Rastan, Legal Advisor, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal
Court, The Hague

16.30 – 18.30 
Panel III: Preventing genocide: role and responsibilities of non-state
actors and ways forward 

Facilitator: Eduardo Acevedo Díaz
Director General for Human Rights, MFA, Argentina 

Gareth Evans, President Emeritus, International Crisis Group
 Statement by Gareth Evans (pdf, 42 Kb)

Anton Ivanov, Director, FEWER Eurasia, Moscow 
 Statement by Anton Ivanov (pdf, 48 Kb)

Salil Tripathi, Policy Director, Institute for Human Rights and Business, London 
Andrea Bartoli, Drucie French Cumbie Chair of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), George Mason, University, Virginia
 Statement by Andrea Bartoli (pdf, 57 Kb)

April 6

08.30 – 10.30 
Panel IV: Europe Experiences and visions for the future 

Facilitator: Markus Leitner
Deputy Head of Political Affairs Division IV – Human Security, FDFA,
Switzerland 

Kathrin Meyer, Executive Secretary, ITF Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, Germany 
 Statement by Kathrin Meyer (pdf, 217 Kb)
Karel Fracapane, Head of the International Relations Department, Shoah
Memorial, France 
 Statement by Karel Fracapane (pdf, 62 Kb)
Mirko Klarin, Director, SENSE News Agency, The Hague, Netherlands
Enzo le Fevre, Special Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hungary
 Statement by Enzo le Fevre (pdf, 130 Kb)

11.00 – 12.00 
Discussion

12.00 – 14.00
Lunch & possibility of individual visit of Museum

14.00 – 16.00 
Panel V: Asia, Latin America, Africa, International Actors: Lessons learned and ways forward 

Facilitator: Mô Bleeker
Senior adviser, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland 

Edward Luck, Special Adviser to the UNSG on the Responsibility to Protect 
Balthazar Habonimana, Ambassador, Chair of the Great Lakes Regional Committee on Genocide, Bujumbura, Burundi 
 Statement by Balthazar Habonimana (pdf, 160 Kb)
Sergio Gabriel Torres, Judge, Argentina 
 Statement by Sergio Gabriel Torres (pdf, 28 Kb)
Youk Chhang, Director, Documentation Center of Cambodia, Cambodia
 Statement by Youk Chhang (pdf, 83 Kb)

16.00 – 17.00 
Final session
Eduardo Acevedo Díaz, Mô Bleeker, Amb. Begum K. Taj
 Presentation of conclusions and main recommendations (pdf, 101 Kb) 
(chairman statement)

17.00 
End of program