Ban makes UN genocide prevention post permanent as Turkey objects to exhibit News
Ban makes UN genocide prevention post permanent as Turkey objects to exhibit

[JURIST] The position of UN Special Adviser for Genocide Prevention [official website] will be made permanent to solidify UN efforts against genocide, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] announced in a speech [text] marking the 13th anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide [HRW backgrounder; BBC backgrounder] observed on Monday. Ban called on all nations to work together to prevent genocide, saying "Preventing genocide is a collective and individual responsibility." The UN genocide post, created in 2004, is currently held by Juan Méndez [official profile] of Argentina. UPI has more.

Meanwhile the opening of a UN exhibit memorializing the anniversary of the Rwanda genocide originally scheduled to be unveiled on Monday was postponed after Turkey [JURIST news archive] objected to a sentence of text referencing the killing of Armenians in Turkey [ANI backgrounder] because it implied that Turkey had committed genocide:

Following World War One, during which 1 million Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to recognize crimes of barbarity as international crimes.

Turkey has traditionally been sensitive to the Armenian issue, and has strenuously objected [JURIST news archive] to a number of international efforts to condemn its conduct. The UN insists that the exhibit will open after a review process is complete. Reuters has additional coverage.

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