Saving succeeding generations.

• Author: Jayaraman, T Vishnu

Coinciding with the sixty-third anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charters, an engaging and educative panel discussion on genocide prevention, with its theme titled "Saving Succeeding Generations", was held on 26 June 2008 at UN Headquarters, in collaboration with the Outreach Division of the UN Department of Public Information and the United Nations University.

In his opening remarks at the panel discussion, under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public information Kiyo Akasaka stated that 63 years ago, in the aftermath of two world wars and the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, world leaders signed the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco on 26 June 1945. The UN charter signing represented the hopes of "saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war."

Mr Akasaka stated that "the basic values enshrined in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remain the guiding principles for our work in the areas of Holocaust remembrance and genocide prevention today". He pointed out that fundamental human rights were denied to millions of innocent people killed in the Second World War and the 6 million Jew who perished during the Holocaust.

Moderating the panel discussion, Eric Falt, Director of the Outreach Division, thanked the panelists for participating and sharing their perspectives on genocide prevention. They included Edward C. Luck, Special Adviser to the Secretary-Genral; Robett, Director of Libraries; Yad Secretary-General; Robert Rozett, Director of Libraries; Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority; Bridget Conley-Zilkic, Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience; Lawrence Swaider, Chief information Officer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Daphna Shraga, Principal Legal Officer at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs; and Joseph Rubagumya of the School of International Public Affairs at Columbia University.

In the wake of the Holocaust, a new word, "genocide", was coined to describe acts committed with intent to destroy-in whole or in part-a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. On 9 December 1948, one day before the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Mr Akasaka also read Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's message for the occasion, stating that...