Statement by the Permanent Representative of the Argentine Republic, Amb. Martín García Moritán

December 9, 2016

President of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson;
Deputy-Secretary General of the United Nations, Jan Eliasson;
Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng;

Dear colleagues, friends,

On behalf of Argentina, I would like to express our appreciation for having this opportunity to commemorate for a second time at the United Nations the dignity of the victims of the crime of genocide and of the prevention of this crime, and to express our gratitude to the office of the Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide for giving me the opportunity to share our experience on the role of the State in this field.

In the last decades, Argentina has taken an active role in developing tools and mechanisms for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities at national, regional and international level. We have also put in place strategies to connect our domestic and foreign policies in order to actively contribute to the debates of the International community on this serious question.

Our commitment to promote the prevention of genocide, the education on the Holocaust and other genocides is the result of our own history, bearing in mind that the process of memory, truth, and justice is one of the main cores of our human rights policy.

In this context, we participate in all relevant regional and international initiatives on the prevention of genocide to promote strong institutional arrangements and advance legislation at national level.

For example, Argentina is part of the group of countries, together with Australia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland and Tanzania, that have launched the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC). This initiative aims at the prevention through the provision of assistance and advice to those countries that require it. It also serves as a platform for the exchange and dissemination of good practices and lessons learned.

Besides, Argentina is a founder member, together with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR), of the Latin American Network for the Prevention of Genocide. This program is aimed at preventing future atrocities based on the Latin American experience in this area, through the development of a community of sensitive and informed public officials on the subject. The network implements different actions to incorporate and develop, through training and regional cooperation, the concept of education in the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities, as a priority in the Latin American regional agenda.

On the issue of education, I would like to highlight our positive experience trough the cooperation with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. We believe that "educating remembrance" means teaching respect for human rights, and fight against discrimination and intolerance. Therefore, the Ministry of Education has established April 19, the Day of remembrance of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, as the Day of Cultural Diversity.

Besides, we promote the progressive inclusion of the topic of the Holocaust in the curricula of our students when addressing the recent national and world history. We organized seminars and workshops for governmental officers from the ministries of education of all Argentine provinces and for teachers from the Social Sciences field. Those seminars seek to raise awareness on the importance to look into the past in order be able to have a critical view on the present and the future.

Finally, we consider important the promotion of cross-regional initiatives, including the involvement of civil society, to share good practices and experiences. Therefore, we have co-organized and participated in conferences on the prevention of genocide back at home in Buenos Aires, and around the world in Arusha (Tanzania), Bern (Switzerland) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia).

The central objective of these meetings was to address the importance of prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Its ultimate goal has been to strengthen and consolidate a global architecture based on existing and emerging prevention systems, such as the Joint Office of the United Nations Secretary-General Special Advisers on Prevention of Genocide and Responsibility to Protect, Early Warning Systems and the designation of national focal points, among others.

I would also like to make a reference to the role of the International Criminal Court on the prevention of genocide through the fight against impunity of the most horrendous crimes, reinforcing its role as a tool to promote the respect of human rights in order to achieve a sustainable peace, in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

To conclude, we consider that the prevention of genocide is a very challenging goal for any country, and that it should be achieved through education and a strong political commitment in order to develop national, regional and international mechanisms that could reinforced each-other. We do not know when the moment to make use of these tools will come; therefore, we need to be ready and prepared to work together with the international community for the safety and benefit of our societies.

Thank you.