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.