State-Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide, Washington DC, Sept. 23

Conference: State-Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide, Washington DC, Sept. 23

International scholars worldwide have long acknowledged that deliberate policies of racial and ethnic incitement have been critical precursors to acts of genocide from the Holocaust to Rwanda. Lately, leading statesmen in the West, from Australia to Canada, have branded the language used by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and specifically his repeated calls for “wiping Israel off the map,” as incitement to genocide and a violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution making that determination in June 2007. Yet on September 22, Ahmadinejad will be arriving in the U.S. to address the UN General Assembly in New York. Ahmadinejad’ s third address before the world community must not be interpreted as international acquiescence to his message, which stands in total contradiction to the principles of the UN Charter and international law.

Genocide Watch, International Association of Genocide Scholars,

YaleUniversity’s Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism,

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations,

and Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

will be holding a conference entitled:

State-Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide: What Can Be Done?

On September 23, 9:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.,

at the Hyatt Regency, 400 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Speakers will include:

· Amb. Richard Holbrooke (architect of Dayton Accord on Bosnia),

· Prof. Payam Akhavan (former legal advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda),

· Salih Mahmud Osman (Member of Parliament-Sudan, human-rights advocate on Darfur),

· Esther Mujawayo (Survivor of the Rwanda genocide in 1994, expert witness),

· Prof. Gregory Stanton (founder, Genocide Watch and the Cambodian Genocide Project; President, International Association of Genocide Scholars),

· Prof. Irwin Cotler (Member of Parliament-Canada, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice),

· Prof. Gregory Gordon (former Legal Officer, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, first post-Nuremberg Prosecutions for Incitement to Genocide)

· Amb. Dore Gold (former Israeli Ambassador to the UN)

Attendance is by invitation only – Please RSVP to glf@jcpa.org

The audience will include policy and legal experts,

national media, and community leaders.

The conference will consist of two sessions held from 9:00 AM through 1:30 PM:

First Session: State Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide

A review of study cases wherein incitement led to genocide. This session will include officials who have dealt with the atrocities in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur.

Second Session: What Can Be Done?

Leading U.S. political figures will discuss measures that may be taken to address the challenge of incitement to genocide. The international community has recognized a growing responsibility to not only punish genocides that have occurred, but to prevent them on the basis of early warning-signs, such as incitement.

This conference was made possible thanks to the generous assistance of Legacy Heritage Fund.

Dr. Gregory H. Stanton
President
International Association of Genocide Scholars
POB 809
Washington, DC 20044
USA
1-703-448-0222
Cell: 1-703-448-6665
E-mail: IAGSPresident@ aol.com
Website: www.genocidescholar s.org

AUTHOR

SPME

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is not-for-profit [501 (C) (3)], grass-roots community of scholars who have united to promote honest, fact-based, and civil discourse, especially in regard to Middle East issues. We believe that ethnic, national, and religious hatreds, including anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, have no place in our institutions, disciplines, and communities. We employ academic means to address these issues.