SECOND VOKSENAASEN CONFERENCE 2008

“Beyond Horror in Rwanda and DRC: breaking the wall of silence of unprecedented mass violence”

2008 NOVEMBER 19-22 | OSLO, NORWAY

THE SECOND VOKSENAASEN STATEMENT

“Beyond Horror” (2008)

This conference [dealt] with the roots and ramifications of genocide in Rwanda and the region, and the mass violence that is currently tearing apart the peoples and nations in the Great Lakes region. It is about colonial and post colonial atrocities, warring fractions, greed and the international community’s complicity and negligence in one of history’s most gruesome but sadly still ongoing tragedies.

 

Beyond Horror is first of all about the heroic fight for survival and dignity—and the search for a way forward by the peoples in the region.

 

“Genocides and other mass atrocities are consequences of complex political actions not, as they are often characterised, as simply senseless slaughter based mainly on identity or cultural difference. This means that besides the humanitarian actions to stop or minimise killings, torture and rape of civilians, especially women and children, the crucial challenge to managing or solving them requires political solutions, rooted in participation of all affected persons, truth, power restructuring and reconciliation.”

 

These words set the tone for the statement submitted from the Voksenaasen conference on Genocide in November 2007, pursuing the intentions to “continue the painful path into investigating ourselves and the challenges we and others are facing to more adequately respond to the ever growing numbers of victims of global, regional and local injustices committed.”

On 17 November 2007 the first Voksenaasen Statement concluded a dialogue conference on genocide as ‘a first initial step towards further reflections and explorations’. A year later, this second conference in the ‘Genocide-Mass Violence Series’ focused particularly on the cases of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sixty years after the adoption of the Genocide Convention by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9th December 1948 we are witnessing institutionalized ways to prosecute perpetrators for the first time in more than 50 years since the Nuremberg trials. However, the scope of such courts and justice remains limited. They often depend upon the political will of those who take decisions mainly if not exclusively guided by their own interests, which are vested in economic, military and political strength. Such bias points to the limitations of the notions of both genocide and reconciliation. In the absence of a more comprehensive and binding way to deal with these and other forms of mass violence and crimes against humanity action will remain selective. It is vested in a concept of international law, whose application remains often limited to its Eurocentric roots.

A global notion of justice, which should be a guiding principle and applicable in all cases where large scale violations of basic human rights occur, is confronted with and limited by the restrictions created through claims for sole control over domestic jurisdiction, national law and state sovereignty. This corresponds at times with a scandalously unashamed degree of disinterest bordering on negligence if not complicity, when decisive acts to prevent further and end ongoing atrocities are lacking.

The political will of the international community to take decisive action is a prerequisite to prevent worse to come. Such intervention has to be based on a clearly formulated and binding mandate to act accordingly. If a responsibility to protect by the international community of states wants to have the undivided recognition, legitimacy and respect, it must be a universally applicable concept, which does not exclude particular cases due to individual interests of those having a large degree of power in the decision making process. All human beings everywhere are entitled to protection. The violation of fundamental human rights has to be equally condemned in all cases where human beings suffer from oppression, neglect, marginalization, violence and other forms of terror. A truly United Nations would need to provide the adequate participation of all in a system, which cares about the well being of all people in this world and expects unconditional compliance with the codified law in existence especially by those, who are claiming the moral high grounds and pose as the gatekeepers and watchdogs in matters of human rights and democracy.

Efforts towards a further democratization of the United Nations as the governing institution over global matters of concern should be an integral part of seeking more constructive and effective ways to protect a growing number of people from further suffering and destruction not only but also through direct forms of mass violence executed. Continental and sub-regional bodies, such as the African Union and SADC, should also be challenged to meet their obligations: they ought to reduce suffering and contribute to human security and the welfare of the people instead of remaining loyal to other governments and heads of states despite the lack of performance and legitimacy.

By seeking to understand the complexities of each specific, multi-layered and –dimensional situation in which mass destruction of human and other life is initiated, promoted, executed, tolerated and ignored, we are also trying to establish a common platform for action. We need to acknowledge a set of shared values and norms as a guiding principle and to act jointly against the passive acceptance of such fundamental, large-scale violation of human rights. As human beings, our loyalty and solidarity should always remain with other human beings. Our solidarity should be in the first place with the most vulnerable and abused. Women and children therefore require our special care and concern. We therefore will focus our concerns in the third conference to follow in this series especially on the situation and rights of children.

In pursuance of such goals, our deliberations and discussions have remained loyal to what we have stated last year: ‘THE ONLY HEGEMONY ACCEPTABLE IS THE HEGEMONY OF HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED IDEALS SERVING ALL PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD AS HUMAN BEINGS IN THEIR EQUAL AND UNDIVIDED RIGHTS.

Oslo, 21 November 2008

This conference is organized in consultation and collaboration between the following: The Dag HammarskjÖld Center For Peace And Good Governance (Zambia), Networkers SouthNorth (Norway), Voksenaasen (Norway), The Dag HammarskjÖld Foundation (Sweden). Øystein Tveter, chair of the Board of Networkers SouthNorth, served as program co-ordinator of the conference.

Web link:

www.networkers.org/index.php?id=70

Available for download:

• The First Voksenaasen Statement 2007 – Statement at the Voksenaasen dialogue conference on the unpredictable past and future of Genocide, 17 November 2007, Oslo, Norway