News
As a service to the atrocity prevention community, GAAMAC posts news directly relevant to atrocity prevention. The opinions expressed in the news articles do not represent the views of GAAMAC, its Steering Group or any partner organization.
A gathering storm: on engaging with human rights laws
6 Mar 2018
Priya Pillai, a Manila-based consultant with expertise in international law and a participant of GAAMAC II, wrote an article for The Hindu on the serious erosion of international human rights law in recent times, arguing that “it is not just the erosion of human rights but the normalization of...
UN Joint Study on the Contribution of Transitional Justice to the Prevention of Atrocity Crimes
1 Mar 2018
In September 2016, the UN Human Rights Council requested the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence and the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide to prepare a joint study on the contribution of...
In laws, rhetoric and acts of violence, Europe is rewriting dark chapters of its past
22 Feb 2018
According to Gregory Stanton’s famous ten stages of genocide, denial is the final stage. The same can be said for other mass atrocities (crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing), where to prevent their recurrence, they must first be remembered and acknowledged...
Conflict and Gender Study - South Sudan: Addressing Root Causes Programme
19 Feb 2018
Civil war in South Sudan since 2013 has continuously put its population at risk of mass atrocity crimes. To disrupt the ongoing cycles of violence, root causes must be addressed, which a new programme by the NGO Consortium consisting of the Agency for Co-operation and Research in Development...
Justice for Syrian Victims Beyond Trials: The Need for New, Innovative Uses for Documentation of Human Rights Violations in Syria
16 Feb 2018
Syria is said to be the most documented conflict in history. Dozens of institutions and organizations both inside and outside of Syria have been collecting evidence of systematic breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law since the beginning of the conflict. Originally, the...
Does Feminist-Movement Building Reduce Violence Against Women? Good Practice Case Study: Women's Situation Room, Nigeria
8 Feb 2018
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) carried out a Good Practice Case Study on the Women's Situation Room initiative, set up during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. Women's Situation Rooms had previously been implemented in Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and...
Female Genital Mutilation: The case for calling it torture and a crime against humanity
6 Feb 2018
In this article, Ms. Antonia Mulvey, Executive Director of Legal Action Worldwide makes the case that Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting (FGM/C) can amount to torture and under some circumstances could constitute a crime against humanity. She argues that FGM/C is widespread in many countries...
Preventing Atrocities in the 21st Century: Seven Decades after the Holocaust, How Can the World Prevent Future Atrocities?
31 Jan 2018
On 30 January, the United States Instuitute of Peace (USIP) and the Embassy of Switzerland in the United States organized a panel discussion with leading experts, including GAAMAC Chair Ms. Mô Bleeker, on the state of atrocity prevention in the 21st century. For anyone who missed the event, it...
An Integrated Approach to Prevention: The Links between Prevention, the 2030 Agenda, and Sustaining Peace
30 Jan 2018
This briefing paper by the Centre on International Cooperation (CIC) makes the case for an integrated approach to prevention. It examines the various forms of prevention the United Nations currently uses and proposes a new paradigm for prevention on three levels: universal prevention, "at...
Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece Visited the Armenian Genocide Museum Complex
22 Dec 2017
The Delegation led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Greece Terens Nikolaos Quiq visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, accompanied by RA Deputy Minister of Diaspora Vahagn Meliqyan.
To read more, click here.
NGOs Welcome UN Peacekeeper Boost for CAR
15 Dec 2017
(New York) – Today’s unanimous decision by the UN Security Council to add a further 900 peacekeepers to the UN mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) was welcomed by a group of 16 non-governmental organizations including Aegis Trust, the Global Centre for the...
Preventing Violence Through Inclusion: From Building Political Momentum to Sustaining Peace
7 Dec 2017
This study analyzes when, how, and under what conditions the inclusion of a broad range of actors in peace and political transition processes contributes to the prevention of violence and armed conflict. It has been produced as a contribution to the United Nations–World Bank Study “Pathways to...
Which Countries Are Most Likely to See New Mass Killing in 2018?
7 Dec 2017
To help us forecast atrocity risk in 2018, please participate in our annual wiki survey, an innovative opinion aggregation method that presents countries head-to-head and simply asks respondents to choose which is more likely to experience a new mass killing in the new year. The survey will...
Taking Stock of the Evidence: What Works to Reduce Violence and Prevent Atrocities?
30 Nov 2017
On October 18–20, 2017, experts and policymakers gathered at the Airlie Center outside Washington, DC, to participate in the Stanley Foundation’s 58th annual Strategy for Peace Conference.This policy memo captures the major discussion points and policy recommendations from the roundtable on...
Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies
16 Nov 2017
The Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies is a group of member states, international organizations, global partnerships, and other partners. The group is convened by the governments of Brazil, Switzerland, and Sierra Leone, and supported by the Center on International...
Research Project: Peace and the Politics of Memory by Research Cluster on Peace, Memory & Cultural Heritage
12 Nov 2017
In societies emerging from violent conflict, victims, perpetrators and bystanders often live side by side, harbouring conflicting memories and experiences of violence. One of the most pressing questions concerns how the difficult past can be remembered without threatening the fragile peace of...
New Guide Launched on Social Media Use During a Crisis
11 Nov 2017
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), with support from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), have published a brief guide on how to use social media to...
The Importance of Professional Expertise in Gathering Evidence of Mass Atrocities
10 Nov 2017
Justice for core international crimes committed in places like Syria is currently non-existent. Yet, should our frustration with this lack of accountability lead us to alter widely-accepted rule of law practices in seeking that accountability? This is the concern raised by Caroline Fehl and...
The Data Divide: Overcoming an Increasing Practitioner-Academic Gap
10 Nov 2017
The promise of big data coupled with the push to use evidence in making decisions about everything from individual health to humanitarianism has created a hype around data and their possibilities. In every crisis, those working on and in situations of violence and conflict collect and use...