Iags#35isg,doc

IAGS CONFERENCE FOCUS ON RECOLLECTION OF GENOCIDES PAST AND

NEW THREATS

The theme of the International Association of Genocide Scholars�� sixth biennial conference, held at Boca Raton, Florida from 4-7 June, 2005, moved in two directions: ��Ninety Years After the Armenian Genocide and Sixty Years After the Holocaust��The Continuing Threat and Legacy of Genocide.�� Over 200 participants from North America, Europe and Israel enjoyed lively debates and arguments over how the past and present should be understood and engaged. The IAGS also presented a lifetime achievement award to Vahakn Dadrian, Director of Genocide Research at the Zoryan Institute, who is internationally known for his legal and sociological analyses of the Armenian genocide.

Richard Hovannisian (Professor, University of California at Los Angeles) and Michael Berenbaum (Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute) gave the keynotes examining the meaning and afterlife of the Armenian genocide and Nazi genocides.

Hovannisian highlighted the controversies among scholars of the Armenian genocide��its duration, inception, and premeditation, and his current work interviewing Armenian survivors. who are still traumatized by the denial of recognition and justice. He is also documenting the extent of help by some Turks to Armenians during the genocide, enabling some to survive. Currently, the question of acknowledgment is embedded in international politics, including efforts at reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey. Among academics, Hovannisian observed that denial is reinforced by the legitimation of relativism by some academics, implying that all stories of people or groups have equal validity.

Berenbaum talked about the legacy of the Holocaust for genocide studies and its current symbolic uses as a referent by Jews, by Germans and other Europeans. The Holocaust has now become paradigmatic for the study of genocide and has had significant impact on law, ethics, and inter-religious discourse. The Jewish narrative of powerlessness has been contradicted by Israel��s power which, paradoxically, invites criticism because now Palestinians are seen as powerless victims. At the same time, there is positive movement among German youth (as compared to previous generations) and in the Roman Catholic church to acknowledge or recognize responsibility for the past. Memory needs to be institutionalized through institutions and documentations, such as the oral histories of survivors he has done.

Special keynote addresses focused on the future were delivered by David Scheffer and Juan Mendez. David Scheffer, now the Senior Vice-President of the United Nations Association of the USA and former Ambassador for War Crimes during the Clinton administration, considered what should be done about ��Genocide and Atrocity Law.��

Juan Mendez, now United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide and President of the International Center for Transitional Justice,

has been a political prisoner in Argentina, a counsel of Human Rights Watch, and a university teacher.

Scheffer talked about the need to apply the concept of genocide in real time and find indicators enabling authorities to react quickly. He said that ��there is a critical need to liberate governments and international organizations [in order]��to enable them to readily identify indicators of genocide without being constrained by the legal requirements that must be met to properly identify the crime of genocide��I believe it is essential that we transform the terminology used in scholarship, public documents, and public dialogue to identify the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as violations of international humanitarian law to a more adaptable and accurate term I call ��atrocity crimes�� and its associated discipline of ��atrocity law.�� Third, I want to very briefly propose that the federal criminal code be amended to broaden the jurisdiction of federal courts to prosecute the crime of genocide, and that the nonimmigrant visa waiver form be re-worded to encompass more than the crime of genocide.�� He talked about the uses of genocide-labelling and US reaction during the Clinton and Bush administrations.

Mendez discussed his new role at the UN and what information others (such as genocide scholars) might provide. His role involves appraising warning signs, asking the UN for protection of groups at risk by getting monitors on the spot, instigating peace processes between contending groups, and trying to find mechanisms for accountability after the fact. Initially, Mendez tried to distinguish his own beliefs (specifically about the Armenian genocide) from positions of the United Nations (which has avoided the issue for 20 years), but later reaffirmed his position in response to challenges by genocide scholars.

Special sessions on Darfur (see Publications, his issue), justice and the aftermath of genocides, early warning and prevention, teaching about genocide and gender and genocide (see articles this issue) engaged many participants.

The IAGS business meeting unanimously approved resolutions on Darfur and Zimbabwe (in this issue) and elected new officers. Israel Charny is President, Gregory Stanton First

Vice-President, Linda Melvern Second Vice-President, and Steven Jacobs is Secretary-Treasurer. For further information on the IAGS, see www.isg-iags.org