60 years after the UN Convention - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

10 development dialogue december 2008 – revisiting the heart of darkness
The current shift in emphasis modifi es both the international political
context, as well as the scholarly debate on genocide and other related
forms of crimes against humanity as represented by acts of mass violence
against a civilian population in a variety of contexts and forms.
The Stockholm International Forum series, during which the Offi ce of
the Prime Minister of Sweden organised four international conferences
between 2000 and 2004, is an illustration of this current debate on a variety
of levels not only of academic but also of political relevance. 9
The studies on the origins, historical and social contexts, as well as the
concrete forms of genocide and related acts of mass violence require
further analyses also in a comparative perspective. This includes a focus
on the South and a variety of actors at diff erent times and places,
from mass violence perpetrated during the process of colonisation, to
oppression under colonial rule, during anti-colonial struggles as well as
under post-colonial regimes. The broadening of the approach towards
concepts and victims of violence will, however, also have to re-assess
current notions and move beyond the ordinary confi nement to the war
or confl ict scenario. There is a need to include forms of gender-based
violence, consequences of ecologically changing environments as a result
of human interventions and the eff ects of climate change for the
survival of people (and the threat to it), as well as other eff ects of structurally
induced violence – such as HIV/AIDS and its non-treatment.
These approaches off er necessary complements to the schools of
thoughts under genocide studies guided by a wider perspective, including
related forms of mass violence. They add to the existing body
of knowledge by positioning mass violence during diff erent times and
in diff erent social and historical formations in various regions in relation
to the current debates under genocide studies. The results of such
eff orts should not be confi ned to academically oriented discourses but
should as much address the political dimension of the subject as an integral
part of the eff ort to come to terms with the massive challenge
of responsible global governance. Not least, the United Nations and
its organs should respond anew to the challenges that have confronted
humanity to no lesser extent since the dark chapter of the Holocaust
enforced an international collective responsibility to protect.
9 The conferences focused on: The Holocaust – Education, Remembrance and
Research (2000), Combating Intolerance (2001), Truth, Justice and Reconciliation
(2002), and Preventing Genocide – Threats and Responsibilities (2004). Each of the
conferences produced a comprehensive summary report on the deliberations. For
a fi nal documentation (which includes a CD containing full documentation of the
four conferences), see Fried, Eva (ed.) (2005), Beyond the ‘Never Agains’, Stockholm:
Regeringskansliet.