Global academic elite launches network for genocide prevention

A delegation from the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs will hold a symposium tomorrow on the topic “Ethics and International Relations: The Crisis of 1914 and What It Means for Us Today,” Patria reports.

Incidentally, today’s Raphael Lemkin seminar on national prevention of genocide and mass atrocities was launched on the initiative of the Family Memorial Foundation from New York, the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) – a prestigious non-profit organization dedicated to building a world that will prevent genocides.

The goal of this initiative is to develop a highly qualified network of social leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina who will be equipped with professional tools to personally commit to the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities, while also providing them with the latest knowledge on available political tools both domestically and internationally. Among the key topics participants will discuss are religion, war and reconciliation, ethics and war, legal and moral international norms from 1914 to the present, and war and reconciliation in the Balkans in the 20th century.

“Our desire is to involve the entire Bosnian-Herzegovinian community, religious leaders, government, academia, and civil society, to work together on developing a network of organizations that will educate and act in the spirit of preventing genocide and mass atrocities. Ultimately, this initiative will lead to the development of a curriculum for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities at higher education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby establishing a long-term mechanism that will raise awareness on this issue, but also counter the threat of the recurrence of mass atrocities,” emphasized Dr. James Waller, coordinator of this seminar and senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Some of the prominent participants of the seminar and symposium include Patricia Whalen, former international judge at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the War Crimes Chamber, and current special advisor to the Court; Vahidin Omanović, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Peacebuilding from Sanski Most; Dr. Martin Mennecke, University of Copenhagen and the Royal Danish Defence College; Dr. Mustafa Cerić, independent candidate for the Presidency of BiH; and Esmir Ganić, president of the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Patria reports.

Incidentally, this seminar is being held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and the Sarajevo assassination, and will be attended by top experts, as well as professors and academics from Oxford, Yale, Harvard, and other prestigious academic institutions in Sarajevo.