"The work of the Lemkin Center has inspired my strong belief that theirs is a worthy and achievable goal."
— Juan Méndez, AIPR Principal Adviser for Policy and Planning; President Emeritus, International Center for Transitional Justice; former UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide The Raphael Lemkin Genocide Prevention Seminars bring together policymakers from around the world to the Holocaust site of Auschwitz in Poland for training in the most effective strategies for preventing genocide and violent conflict. The first seminar was held May 12 to May 20, 2008.
The Raphael Lemkin Center for the Prevention of Genocide was established by AIPR in partnership with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and with the endorsements of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, former U.S. Under Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, Prince Hassan of Jordan, former German president Johannes Rau, and former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski.
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent, actually coined the term "genocide" prior to World War II. During the war, Lemkin made his way to the United States and remained there after the end of hostilities. In 1948, the UN Convention on the Prevention and Prosecution of the Crime of Genocide was adopted, in large part thanks to his ceaseless efforts. However, events in Cambodia, Guatemala, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, and Darfur have shown that, more than 60 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, humanity has yet to absorb the lessons of the crimes committed in World War II.
Raphael Lemkin
"Raphael Lemkin (June 24, 1900–August 28, 1959) was a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent. Before World War II, Lemkin was interested in the Armenian genocide and campaigned in the League of Nations to ban what he called 'barbarity' and 'vandalism.' He is best known for his work against genocide, a word he coined in 1943 from the root words genos (Greek for 'family,' 'tribe,' or 'race') and -cide (Latin for 'killing'). He first used the word in print in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation – Analysis of Government – Proposals for Redress (1944)."
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