Stockholm International Forum

Australia commends the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr Göran Persson, and the government of Sweden for providing the impetus for this important initiative – the Stockholm International Forum 2004 – with its objective of ensuring that genocides never occur in the world again.

Australia shares the strongly held view of all those who have already spoken in these Plenary sessions, that genocide is an especially abhorrent crime. It is an abuse of human rights that not only denies hundreds and thousands of individuals the most basic of human rights – the right to life – but also does untold harm to the civil, political, social, and cultural rights of the survivors.

Too often over the course of the last century we have witnessed the suffering that genocide inflicts.

Australia made clear its revulsion for the crime of genocide when it became the second country to ratify, in 1949, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

More recently, Australia has been, and remains, a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court. We firmly believe the Court will deter people from committing genocide, and other serious international crimes of concern to the international community as a whole – such as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Court will also ensure that those who nevertheless do commit those crimes will not do so with impunity.

Australia welcomes the emphasis and focus of the Forum on the need for action to prevent genocides occurring in the future.
We need to take practical measures on a range of fronts.

The draft Declaration with its comprehensive set of commitments represents our collective will to do so. It has our full support.




You are here: 2004 / Plenary Sessions / Plenary Session 4 / Address by the Ambassador of Australia in Stockholm, Richard Rowe

	Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme	Address by Dr. Tarek Heggy Address by the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, Pierre Sané Address by the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Pavel Vosalík Address by the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Jakub T. Wolski Address by the Director of the European Training Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Professor Wolfgang Benedek Address by the Ambassador of Brazil in Stockholm, Elim Dutra Address by the State Secretary for European Affairs of Belgium, Raoul Del Corde Address by the Ambassador of Australia in Stockholm, Richard Rowe Address by the Ambassador of Turkey in Stockholm, Tomur Bayer Address by the Deputy Special Representative for the UN Interim Administrarion Mission in Kosovo, Jean-Christian Cady Address by the Chief of Activities and Programme Branch of the UNHCHR, Jan Cedergren Address by the Deputy Director of the Bureau for Crises Prevention and Recovery of the UNDP, Georg Charpentier Address by the Head of the Central Division in the Directorate General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe, James Wimberley Address by Dr. Stephen D. Smith, Aegis Trust and Beth Shalom Address by the Ambassador of Australia in Stockholm, Richard Rowe Rowe, Richard Address by Richard Rowe, Ambassador of Australia in Stockholm Australia commends the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr Göran Persson, and the government of Sweden for providing the impetus for this important initiative – the Stockholm International Forum 2004 – with its objective of ensuring that genocides never occur in the world again. Australia shares the strongly held view of all those who have already spoken in these Plenary sessions, that genocide is an especially abhorrent crime. It is an abuse of human rights that not only denies hundreds and thousands of individuals the most basic of human rights – the right to life – but also does untold harm to the civil, political, social, and cultural rights of the survivors. Too often over the course of the last century we have witnessed the suffering that genocide inflicts. Australia made clear its revulsion for the crime of genocide when it became the second country to ratify, in 1949, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. More recently, Australia has been, and remains, a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court. We firmly believe the Court will deter people from committing genocide, and other serious international crimes of concern to the international community as a whole – such as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Court will also ensure that those who nevertheless do commit those crimes will not do so with impunity. Australia welcomes the emphasis and focus of the Forum on the need for action to prevent genocides occurring in the future. We need to take practical measures on a range of fronts. The draft Declaration with its comprehensive set of commitments represents our collective will to do so. It has our full support. >> Back to top	Introduction Opening Session Plenary Sessions Plenary Session 1 Plenary Session 2 Plenary Session 3 Plenary Session 4 Workshops, Panels and Seminars Closing Session and Declarations Other Activities


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