Mr Chairman, Mr Prime Minister, Distinguished Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to thank the Swedish government for inviting Italy to attend this fourth Stockholm International Forum Conference on one of the major humanitarian, political and moral challenges addressed by the international community: the prevention of genocide.

The horrific experience of the Holocaust, and the enormity of a tragedy which has left a permanent scar on the individual and collective consciences of whole peoples and generations, raised the shared belief that a powerful, joint commitment was needed by all countries to ensure that never again something similar would happen, and that aberrations like genocide should never be considered by governments or other state and non-state actors as an instrument of the struggle against their enemies.

Yet past, and indeed recent, history has shown that this belief – and the commitment stemming from it – has not been strong enough to prevent appalling tragedies in Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia, to mention but a few of the most serious and telling examples. If it must “never again” occur, adequate antidotes must be created to ensure that every aspect of the problem can be addressed in the short, medium and long-term.

The debate on the most appropriate instruments and strategies for the prevention of genocide is by no means new. No later than in 1985, the Whittaker report already contained a number of important recommendations, some of which have subsequently been implemented. I am referring to the institution of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the creation of an International Criminal Court with jurisdiction on crimes of genocide. The tragedies in Rwanda and Bosnia were then kept under close scrutiny by the international community, revealing the inadequacy of a system that was unable to prevent these emergencies or react to them with the necessary timeliness.

It was in the wake of the dramatic and atrocious experiences I have just mentioned that a first and fundamental step forward was taken with the creation of the Special Tribunals and the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. These events sent out an unambiguous signal from the international community that no-one responsible for such atrocities would ever again be allowed to go unpunished. I believe that combating impunity is one of the vital ways of combating genocide. To this end , one of the most immediate and practical measures that States can adopt is to lend their support to the campaign for the universal ratification of the Rome Statute.

But even though the certainty of prosecution and the certainty of the sentence are essential to combating such crimes as genocide, they are certainly not sufficient to root them out. Action and prosecution subsequent to the event are not enough: pre-emption and prevention must be the primary concern.

Preemptive ex ante measures must be adopted to eliminate the many deep-rooted causes of conflicts from which genocide stems: the absence of the rule of law, impunity, no respect for individual rights, the lack of tolerance for ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, poverty, ignorance, and the no decent living standards.

Prevention requires the dissemination of the values of democracy, the rule of law, and the protection of rights and fundamental freedoms. Prevention also means equitably spreading general prosperity, and rooting out the ignorance and poverty that often underlie misunderstanding and intolerance.

Other aspects of this complex and dire issue call out for joint in-depth consideration on our part. First, we should commit ourselves to an adequate and effective international early warning system, notably at the regional level, able to timely identify outbreaks of tension that might lead to genocide and mass murder. Second, we should consider enabling the United Nations Security Council and other regional organisations to act more promptly and effectively, thus allowing the international community to timely and adequately respond to the needs raised by humanitarian crises that often flare up suddenly and with extraordinarily negative consequences.

Yet let me say that these phenomena can be overcome by another essential front of resistance: our own consciences. In this respect, initiatives like this Conference sponsored by the Swedish government are timely and useful means of appealing to individual and collective consciences and public opinion about what may well be considered the most heinous and odious form of violation of fundamental rights.

Speaking on behalf of Italy, I wish once again to stress that no claim to state sovereignty or integrity should ever be used as a pretext for, or to justify in our own consciences, such execrable crimes as genocide.