Statement on Genocide Victims Day

Amb. Danon's Statement on Genocide Victims Day

  •   “We must be ever vigilant to prevent atrocities in the future”
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    Amb. Danon speaks on behalf of WEOG one Genocide Victims Day Amb. Danon speaks on behalf of WEOG one Genocide Victims Day Copyright: UN Photo/Cia Pak
     
     
    This month, Ambassador Danny Danon serves as chair of the Western Countries Group (WEOG). Today, during the historic UN debate for the first-ever International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of This Crime, Ambassador Danon spoke on the group’s behalf: “We must be ever vigilant to prevent atrocities in the future. We must not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by political considerations.”

    In September 2015, the UN General Assembly marked December 9th as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, in honor of the day the UN adopted the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide: “This year marks seventy years since the Holocaust, the attempted systematic destruction of the Jewish people in Europe”, Ambassador Danon said, “In the decades following the adoption of this landmark convention, the world thought that the crime of genocide belonged to the darker eras of our past…In the grip of this misplaced optimism and false confidence, the United Nations failed to heed the warning signs of potential atrocities.”             

    Ambassador Danon referred to the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, where as many as 800,000 men, women, and children were murdered, as well as referring to the massacre in Srebrenica, where 8,000 of the area’s Bosnian population were massacred, despite the promise of UN protection.

    Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN is serving as this month’s chair of the Western Countries Group (WEOG). WEOG is one of the 5 regional groups at the UN, and it includes Western European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, Turkey, New Zealand and Israel. The role of the group’s chair is to coordinate activities such as nominations and to solve disagreements between its members.

    Full statement, as delivered: 

    Mr. President,

    I am honored to address this esteemed body as the chair of the Western European and other States group.

    I would like to thank the delegation of Armenia for being the main sponsor of this important resolution, and all the delegations for engaging constructively in the negotiations, which enabled the resolution to pass by consensus.

    It is indeed a special honor for a representative of the state of Israel to deliver this statement on the occasion of the first ever International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of This Crime.

    This year marks seventy years since the holocaust, the attempted systematic destruction of the Jewish people in Europe.  

    Winston Churchill called the Nazi project of the mass murder of 6 million Jews and of the Roma, homosexuals, persons with disabilities, and political opponents, “a crime without a name”. 

    Following the horrors of the Nazis and the exterminations camps, the allied powers gave this crime a name – genocide. At Nuremberg, Nazi officials were found guilty for “deliberate and systematic genocide—namely, the extermination of racial and national groups".

    They acted out of the recognition that beyond the reprehensible murder of individuals, there is a special evil in the attempt to erase entire peoples and populations.

    Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew, and a law professor who coined the term genocide, and championed the cause of its victims, was instrumental in galvanizing the United Nations to recognize it as a crime.

    On this date, on December 9th, 1948, the international community came together to establish that specific acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such”, constituted genocide.

    The General Assembly adopted the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide because member states understood that fighting impunity for the crime of genocide is an important factor in its prevention.    

     

    Mr. President,

    In the decades following the adoption of this landmark convention, we, the world, thought that the crime of genocide belonged to the darker eras of our past.  There was hope that the world had learned its lesson, and was committed to the promotion of human rights, and to the eradication of the discrimination that makes targeting of entire groups possible.

    In the grip of this misplaced optimism and false confidence, the United Nations and its members failed to respond to the warning signs of potential atrocities.  

    In 1994, the world witnessed the mass slaughter in Rwanda, where Hutu extremists undertook a campaign to destroy the entire Tutsi civilian population. Entire families were killed in their homes or as they tried to flee. Women were systematically and brutally raped. As many as 800,000 men, women, and children were murdered in the Rwandan genocide.

    The tragedy was compounded by the irresolute response of the international community, and by the unwillingness of Member States to respond to the changed reality in Rwanda by strengthening the peacekeeping mandate and contributing additional troops.

    Just a year later, Srebrenica became the site of the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War. Following years of uprooting and murdering of the area’s Bosniak population; 8000 men and boys were systematically killed despite the promise of UN protection. Former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Anan described the massacre as “A tragedy which will forever haunt the history of the United Nations”.

    It was the lessons learned from these failures to act that led to the consensus adoption by leaders at the 2005 World Summit of the Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. 

    Mr. President,

    The tragedies of the past remind us that we must be ever vigilant to prevent atrocities in the future.

    In September, the General Assembly proclaimed today, December 9th, as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.

    The voices of these victims call out to us to remember the unspeakable circumstances of their deaths, and to reaffirm our responsibility for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.

    We must also listen closely to the voices of those being threatened with annihilation today, such as the Yazidi minority in Iraq that is being targeted for destruction by ISIS.

    We must not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by political considerations.

    Mr. President,

    .

    Let us commemorate and honor the victims of the crime of genocide by reiterating the commitment we made in 1948 to, quote, “liberate mankind from such an odious scourge”.

    Thank you.

     
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