UN Special Advisor warns genocide could happen againListen /
The international community must do its best to prevent atrocities such as the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia from ever happening again. That's according to Adama Dieng, the Special Advisor of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, who made the plea for help from the international community on the first day of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He was speaking at a panel to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which strengthened human rights work around the world.
"Can we confidently say that we have managed to win the battle to prevent genocide from happening again? The answer is no. Many challenges still remain ahead of us. During the last 20 years, in a number of places, we have seen the tremendous price paid in terms of human lives lost when atrocity crimes occur. I talk about millions of lives lost during this period. Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Congo and Kenya, these are only a few of the countries where gross human rights violations and abuses have been perpetrated."
Mr Dieng says that he's deeply concerned about the development of conflicts in Syria and Mali and warned that the worst may be yet to come.
Nicki Chadwick, UN Radio, Geneva