9 Apr 06-
Addressing correspondents at the UN on the twelfth anniversary of the beginning of the Rwandan genocide, the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Juan Mendez, said that the international community should use the occasion to renew its commitment to ensure it does not let genocide happen again.
He said that, “As we remember almost 1 million victims, we also have to remember that the international community failed to protect those victims”. On Darfur he emphasized, that protection in particular was a serious matter and critisized the international response. “In effect, for the last two years we have engaged in half measures, and those half measures, one, have not been sufficient to protect and, two, they’re showing signs of unraveling,”.
Juan Mendez observed that when it comes to taking action to prevent genocide, the attitude of, “Let somebody else do it’ is still very much in place”. “Nations are still unwilling to commit the troops and money necessary to prevent genocide.”
He warned that as the transition from an African Union force to a larger more internationalised force was considered for Darfur , there was a danger that a security vacuum might develop. He called on the international community to fund and equip whichever force was there so that it could protect everyone everywhere.
The Special Advisor said that his office had been given an important boost by the declaration on the Responsibility to Protect at the World Summit but that these commitments had to translated into actions. Click here to read the minutes of the Special Advisor’s Press Conference.
