050308 - International conference , HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE IN YEREVAN

ULTIMATE CRIME, ULTIMATE CHALLENGE
HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE
An International Conference
Yerevan, Armenia April 20-21, 2005
Organized by
The National Commission for the Commemoration of the
90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Opening Address
H.E. Robert Kocharian, President of the Republic of Armenia
Opening Statement
Session I – Desecration of Human Rights, Past and Present
1. The Meaning and Importance of Human Rights
2. Human Rights and International Law
3. Crimes against Humanity in International Law Break 4. Geopolitics and Human Rights
5. Challenges of Governance and Human Rights in Multi-Ethnic Regions
Discussion
Lunch

Session II – The Ultimate Crime
1. The Rwandan Genocide and the Failure of Humanity
2. The Lessons of Past Genocides as a Guide to Averting Future Genocides
3. The Media, Bystanders, and Humanitarian Intervention
4. Intervention, International Law, and Human Rights in the Middle East and the Caucasus
Discussion
Break

Session III – Prevention and Action
1. The Responsibility of the World to Prevent Genocide
2. Factors Facilitating and Impeding Genocide
Discussion

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Session IV– Truth, Reconciliation, and Transitional Justice: The Ultimate Challenge
1. Truth and Reconciliation
2. Impunity vs. Retributive Justice in Crimes against Humanity
3. Repairing Historical Injustices: Amnesia, Retributive Justicemm or seeking Reconciliation through Truth?

Discussion
Break

Session V – Turkish-Armenian Relations: Divided by History United by Geography

1. Challenges to Turkish-Armenian Dialogue: The Creation of a
Common Body of Knowledge
2. Promoting Recognition of the Armenian Genocide via Third-Parties
3. Memory, Forgetting, and Silence: How Collectivities Remember their Past, and Its Implications for Current Relations Discussion Lunch
4. Nationalism and History: A Reconsideration
5. Accepting Responsibility: Intergenerational Guilt, or Catharsis
6. Genocide Denial: The Continued Repression of Human Rights Break 7. Looking Backward, Moving Forward Discussion
Closing Addresses
1. Representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
2. Representative of the Council of Europe
3. Representative of the United Nations
4. Representative of the Government of Armenia

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