Blog Home > history and concept
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Sixty-Five Years Later: The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide
December 9, 2013
Sixty-five years ago today, in the wake of the Holocaust, the UN General Assembly adopted its first-ever human rights treaty. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide obliges signatories to prevent genocide—defined as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group—and to punish the perpetrators when it occurs.
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The Responsibility to Protect: From Words to Action
August 8, 2013
A new report authored by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and former Presidential Special Envoy to Sudan Richard S. Williamson examines how to realize the promise of the Responsibility to Protect and more effectively use this tool to prevent genocide and mass atrocities.
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Judge Buergenthal on the Challenges of International Justice
December 17, 2010
On the eve of the anniversary of the genocide convention, the Museum hosted a discussion with Judge Thomas Buergenthal, a Holocaust survivor who has devoted his life to finding justice and protecting human rights for people throughout the world. A pioneer of international law, Judge Buergenthal served for the last decade as the American judge for the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principle judicial organ of the United Nations.
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Genocide Prevention Task Force report receives bipartisan praise
January 15, 2009
As the nation approaches the swearing in of America’s 44th president, and as the 114th Congress gets underway, a group of bipartisan leaders joins the Genocide Prevention Task Force’s call for the new administration and congressional leaders to make preventing genocide and mass atrocities a national priority.
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Task Force Delivers Blueprint for US to Prevent Genocide and Mass Atrocities
December 8, 2008
The Genocide Prevention Task Force today released its final report on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The report makes the case for why genocide and mass atrocities threaten core American values and national interests, and how the U.S. government can prevent these crimes in the future.
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Madeleine Albright and William Cohen to Co-Chair Genocide Prevention Task Force
November 13, 2007
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen today announced that they will co-chair a Genocide Prevention Task Force jointly convened by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the United States Institute of Peace. The Task Force will generate practical recommendations to enhance the U.S. government's capacity to respond to emerging threats of genocide and mass atrocities.
