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The Genocide Prevention Group Draws Attention to Discrimination to Commemorate Human Rights Day
Ottawa, (December 10th, 2009) – Today, the Genocide Prevention Group commemorates the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year’s Human Rights Day aims to raise awareness about discrimination.
“Genocide starts not with a massacre but with discrimination against a specific group and denying that group of their right to security and the basic necessities of life,” said MP Paul Dewar, Chair of the Genocide Prevention Group. Non-discrimination is the basis of the Declaration that states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, religion or other grounds leads to persecution and violence against these groups. “This year’s theme is as critical as ever, especially in the face of ongoing persecution of minorities in Burma/Myanmar, Ethiopia and Iran,” said Dewar. “Mass killings and systematic rape in Darfur, Sudan, and in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo also demonstrate the need for concerted political action to prevent these crimes against humanity.”
The Genocide Prevention Group hosted the parliamentary launch of the Will to Intervene report in October 2009 which found that mass atrocities pose an indirect threat to Canadian national security and public health.
In commemoration of Human Rights Day 2009, the Genocide Prevention Group urges the Government of Canada to implement the recommendations of the Will to Intervene report and build the capacity to prevent mass atrocities.
Information about the Will to Intervene project and the report are available at: http://www.preventiongenocide.org/upcoming-events-les-evenements-a-venir/w2i or http://migs.concordia.ca/W2I/W2I_Project.html.
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