Home | Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation

News

Ban Ki-moon Declares 2012 Year of Prevention

"Key to preventing genocide is within each society"

New York, Jan. 20, 2012 – In a major speech this week on the international community's efforts to combat mass atrocities, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for 2012 to be the Year of Prevention.

Ban, delivering the keynote address on Wednesday at a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the concept of Responsibility to Protect, told an audience of policymakers, diplomats, academics, and journalists, "the key to preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity lies within each society. These crimes occur far less often in places where civil society is robust, where tolerance is practiced, and where diversity is celebrated. Political figures cannot incite mass violence for their own ends where the rights of minorities and the rule of law are respected."

Ban's words were fully in line with the philosophy behind the Auschwitz Institute's core program on genocide prevention, the Global Government edition of the Raphael Lemkin Seminar series, for government officials from around the world.

How Do We Upend the Roots of Genocide?

If you met Tibi Galis on the street, you wouldn't guess what he does for a living. With a quick laugh, a wide smile, and a uniquely blended European accent that gives everything he says a tinge of optimism, Tibi currently serves as director of the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR), an organization dedicated to providing worldwide policymakers with the tools to prevent genocide in its earliest stages.

Each year, the AIPR brings experts, diplomats, military personnel, and academics from over 60 countries to their meetings and seminars, giving high-powered officials the chance to communicate openly and confidentially about issues that often go unnoticed. The hope is to challenge a statement Albert Einstein made in 1934, that “the brotherhood of the well-intentioned exists even though it is impossible to organize it anywhere.”

Reflecting on the Essence of Auschwitz

Re “Auschwitz Tailors Its Story for New Generation,” by Michael Kimmelman
(Abroad column, front page, Feb. 19):

To the Editor:

Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, says a new level of education is needed regarding the Holocaust. “It’s not enough to cry,” he states. “Empathy is noble, but it’s not enough.”

We agree. The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation has for years been the only organization in the world training future leaders in genocide prevention on the grounds of the death camp.

Our Raphael Lemkin Seminars for Genocide Prevention, which are run in partnership with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, bring midlevel government and military officials from around the world to the “biggest cemetery in the world” for seven intensive days of instruction in the history of genocide and the tools to prevent it.

We stress that genocide is a process they can stop before a drop of blood is spilled. One day, these women and men will decide the life or death of millions. What better place than Auschwitz to teach them what is at stake?

Fred Schwartz
Founder and President
Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation

U.S. Senate Adopts Historic Bill on Genocide Prevention

Bill promotes practices supported by AIPR

On Dec. 22, 2010, U.S. Senators voted unanimously in favor of a groundbreaking act “recognizing the United States national interest in helping to prevent and mitigate acts of genocide and other mass atrocities against civilians, and supporting and encouraging efforts to develop a whole of government approach to prevent and mitigate such acts.”

The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation was pleased that the bill recognizes the same practices AIPR promotes in its Raphael Lemkin Genocide Prevention Seminars.