Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

By our Internet Desk

13-07-2004

Juan-Mendez 

Juan Mendez - the new advisor on genocide to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

Listen to the interview: 3´18

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has announced the appointment of the first special UN advisor on the prevention of genocide. The man chosen for the job is Juan Mendez (59), an Argentinian human rights lawyer and one-time political prisoner under the military regime that ruled his native country in the 1970s.

With the failure in mind of the United Nations and the international community as a whole to tackle the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s, the creation of this special position at the world body appears to be a positive move towards preventing such humanitarian disasters from occurring on the same scale in the future. But how much influence will the new advisor have at the United Nations, and will he really be able to get things moving before the threat of genocide becomes a reality?

In the following interview, Radio Netherlands speaks to Roberta Cohen, an analyst with the Brookings Institute in the United States, and asks her about the significance of the newly created post, and Mr Mendez's ability to act to thwart potential genocide.

"In think it's very important that there was such an appointment. The UN failed very, very dramatically – and everybody recognises that – in responding to the genocide that took place in Rwanda. And everyone has said "never again", that the international community has to have some sort of response when situations like that occur. And you see that, right now, happening in Darfur in the Sudan, where acts of genocide are taking place, and again the Security Council has been very weak in its response."

Juan Mendez is president of the International Centre for Transitional Justice; a body which furnishes legal assistance to nations emerging from conflict.

In the 1970s he spent two periods in jail as a political prisoner of Argentina's then military regime, and was subjected to torture. During this period, Amnesty International made him one of its "Prisoners of Conscience"; putting pressure on the authorities in Buenos Aires to set him free.

Finally released in 1977, he went into exile, where he continued his human rights activities. He later headed the Latin America division of the Human Rights Watch organisation, going on later to become its general counsel. He has also worked for other NGOs as well as teaching law, concentrating on the human rights aspect of this field.
RN: "Is this just a spokesperson or is this somebody who could say to the Security Council that intervention is now needed to prevent genocide?"

"I don't think the person could […] require the Security Council to act, but certainly the person – through the Secretary-General - could propose that the Security Council act in a certain way, or if actual troops or military action were needed, could then call for troops and funds in order to do this. But hopefully a strong Security Council resolution, sanctions, international political pressure, would be sufficient, and this person could certainly put pressure – via the Secretary-General – on the Security Council to act."

RN: "This is something which, after the Rwanda genocide, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, was very, very serious about it not happening again. But, as you say, as we see in Darfur, it is happening again."

massacred-Armenians 

Genocide in history: the bodies of murdered Armenians, killed in the period 1915-1918. The systematic slaughter of Armenians under Turkey´s then Ottoman rulers is still not recognised by all sides as an event of genocide.
"It is happening again, and you again see the international community now desires to do something. The humanitarian part of the UN is very much in gear, there is pressure on the Sudan, but you find that the Sudanese have been able to resist and that governments in the Security Council have not wanted to take strong measures. So, I would like to see what will happen with the appointment of Juan Mendez, and whether there will be more pressure on the Security Council to enact sanctions, not only against the militias in the Sudan – the Janjaweed – but against the Sudanese government."

RN: "We've heard from Mr Annan that he plans to draw up a plan of action to prevent genocide in the future. Is this something that can be written down on paper given that there is so much political manoeuvring involved in this?"

"You are right, I don't think that you can just put this down on paper. But I think there are quite a number of societies where one can find indicators […] of potential killings and genocide in such a society because there isn't sufficient protection for a particular racial or minority group because the political situation is developing in such a way that one can almost sense that a group is in particular danger. Usually situations unravel, and once they unravel and there are suddenly tens of thousands of killings then everyone looks."
 

Related stories

Links

Disclaimer: Radio Netherlands is not responsible for the content of external Web sites
 
RNWLogo

Tags: Armenia, Darfur, genocide, genocide advisor, Juan Mendez, Kofi Annan, Rwanda, Security Council, Sudan