60 years after the UN Convention - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

236 development dialogue december 2008 – revisiting the heart of darkness
The conclusion must be that we can avoid this type of mass violence
by a government against its own people only by a combined response
of Zimbabweans and the international community. The response
must include the following:
- isolating the perpetrators from normal international interactions,
naming them collectively and individually, identifying their
crimes, and bringing them to justice in international tribunals
- working towards building the institutions, the political will and
the eff ective precedents to create a world-wide culture of intolerance
for human rights abuses which will alert potential abusers
that they will not easily fi nd impunity
- committing to developing accountable, democratic governments;
in Zimbabwe this means giving birth to a new political culture
with a new type of leader whose goal is to serve the people not
exploit them; a new type of citizen who demands accountability;
and new genuinely democratic institutions which eff ectively preserve
the rights of all and ensure that the wealth of the nation is
nurtured for the benefi t of all.
How we all succeed or fail in achieving these will produce the conditions
for the termination or continuation of episodes of mass violence,
and will constitute the text of the history of human rights in
the next generation.