You are here: 2004 / Plenary Sessions / Plenary Session 3 / Address by the Archbishop of the Holy See, Celestino Migliore | |||||||||
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Address by the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger Address by the Minister of Justice of Finland, Johannes Koskinen Address by the Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Vidar Helgesen Address by the Deputy-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy, Margherita Boniver Address by the Ambassador and Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Relations, Argentine, Jorge Taiana Address by the Deputy Chairperson, the Commission of the African Union, Patrick Mazimhaka Address by the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs of Malta, Tonio Borg Address by the minister of Cooperation of Luxemburg, Charles Goerens Address by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, Andreas Loverdos Address by the Archbishop of the Holy See, Celestino Migliore Address by the Secretary of the Presidency of Uruguay, Raśl Lago Address by the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Christian Strohal Address by the State Secretary, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, Blaise Godet Address by the Archbishop of the Holy See, Celestino Migliore Migliore, Celestino Address by the Archbishop of the Holy See, Celestino Migliore Mr. Chairman, Humanity has seen world wars, genocides, mass murders, and ethnic cleansings. However, among all forms of large-scale violence, genocide sets itself apart by the evil motivation behind it, namely, its specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation, a race, an ethnic or religious group, a defenseless or vulnerable group of human beings, simply for being such. Indeed, genocide literally means to kill a race or a tribe. Among the many aspects of the question, my Delegation wishes to highlight three specific points: - first, the need to implement existing legal instruments against genocide; 1. the need to implement instruments and structures against genocide. However, facts attest that the existence of these instruments and structures have not prevented new genocides from happening. Something must have gone wrong, and the international community is duty-bound to examine why they failed; to determine whether the failure was due to instruments and structures which have become wanting in the face of evolving criminal strategies, or due to a lack of political will to implement them, or due to interests overriding the survival of a nation or a group, or due to all these factors combined. This task is all the more compelling if we consider that, since genocide's intent to destroy a nation or a group implies coordinated planning and long-term strategy, signs of an impending threat could hardly escape notice of an attentive international community. 2. Second, the role of the international organizations. In this regard, the United Nations remains the central forum for global international rule making. In the last decades, a substantial body of international treaties was negotiated in the UN. This work still continues on this very day. And we observe that a gradually expanding corpus of international law imposes obligations on member States. However, not all member States, in particular developing countries, have the technical capacity to cope with all the international obligations. There is a growing rift between the development of international law and the capability of countries to apply it. Here implementation is a key word in the challenges ahead of us in international law; it stresses the importance of juridical, technical assistance to developing countries. Genocide remains, unfortunately, a constant menace in some regions of the world, where its causes and telltale signs may not be so hard to identify. Genocide is latent in places where eliminating the other is considered a "fast solution" to drawn-out rivalries and unresolved conflicts; where blatantly unjust relations between groups are ideologically justified; where under the surface of apparent order are embers of hatred still burning for lack of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation; where acceptance of past mistakes and a "purification of memory" are obstructed by the fear to confront the historical reality. These are not only identifiable warnings of an impending threat of genocide: if I may add, these are also identifiable factors in the breeding grounds of terrorism. Mr. Chairman, Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Back to top |
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