Prime Minister Göran Persson invited representatives of some sixty governments and a number of international organisations to participate in the Stockholm International Forum: Preventing Genocide; Threats and Responsibilities that will be held on 26-28 January 2004. The three days of the conference focused on the future, on how to prevent of genocide, mass killings and ethnic cleansing.

This was the fourth and final conference in the Stockholm International Forum series. The first, on the Holocaust, took place in January 2000. It attracted political leaders from around the world, who jointly adopted a Declaration Promoting Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. The two subsequent conferences took place in 2001 and 2002: Combating Intolerance and Truth, Justice and Reconciliation, respectively. One of the fundamental ideas has been to create a forum for exchange between leading politicians, decision-makers and experts in various fields. In addition to government representatives, academics, researchers and persons of international renown have been invited.

To a great degree, previous conferences have used historical perspectives as the basis for their work. This time, the focus was on the future. With the principle of the international community’s joint responsibility for preventing genocide as a starting point, a number of issues were highlighted, such as:- How can we detect the threat of an impending act of genocide, mass murder or ethnic cleansing?- Which threats can be identified today?- How can the gap between available information and political action be bridged?- Is there a need to develop existing institutional and normative frameworks for international interventions?- How can the international community’s instruments - diplomatic, legal, humanitarian, economic, military and others - be better used for the prevention of genocide?The aim of the conference was to gain an overall understanding of the problem of genocide in its various aspects and thus pave the way for preventive action. The Stockholm meeting was the first conference of this format at government level to be held since the United Nations adopted a Convention against Genocide in 1948. Special key note speakers were invited to participate in the opening of the conference. The main work was conducted by panels consisting of prominent participants as well as in a number of workshops within four key areas: Threats, Responsibilities, Prevention and Awareness.