All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity

The Genocide Prevention Group Re-Affirms “Never Again” to Commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day

Ottawa, January 27, 2010 – The Genocide Prevention Group remembers the tragedy of the Holocaust and the lives lost in atrocities committed since then.

On January 27, 1945, Soviet forces liberated the survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. At Auschwitz, thousands of Jews, homosexuals, political dissidents, and other people deemed ‘undesirable’ by the Nazi regime were killed in gas-chambers or worked to death.

In 2005, fifty years after the liberation, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as an annual international day of commemoration to honour all victims of the Nazi era. Every member nation of the U.N. has an obligation to honour the memory of Holocaust victims and develop educational programs as part of the resolve to help prevent future acts of genocide.
The Genocide Prevention Group affirms the tragedy of the Holocaust, and condemns all discrimination and violence based on religion or ethnicity. Further, the Genocide Prevention Group calls attention to the systematic murder of innocent civilians since the Holocaust. The events in Cambodia in the 1970s, Rwanda in 1994, and, a year later, the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, demonstrate that atrocities continue today.
The Genocide Prevention Group calls for a continued commitment to prevent mass atrocities. “We knew what was happening during the Holocaust, in Cambodia, and in Rwanda. Yet we did little to stop it. And we know what is happening in Darfur, Sudan and in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and still, we do very little,” said MP Paul Dewar, Chair of the Genocide Prevention Group.

“When we look back on the grotesque loss of life during World War II or in Rwanda in the 1990s, we cannot escape the fact that these atrocities happened due to the lack of courage from foreign governments to intervene” says Megan Leslie, NDP MP for Halifax and Vice-Chair of the Genocide Prevention Group. “Members of Parliament have a duty to ensure that the government of the day and its citizens are aware of and engaged with the prevention of genocide.”

“The only effective way to combat mass atrocities begins with multilateral cooperation and depends on respect for international law,” said Johanne Deschamps, Bloc Québecois MP for Laurentides-Labelle and Vice-Chair of the Group for the Prevention of Genocide.

“We certainly need to continue to work in order for Canada to play a greater role to put an end to brutal conflicts – such as the ongoing conflict in the Congo and the genocide in Darfur – and help the population affected by excesses of conflict to move forward on their efforts of reconciliation and peace,” said Senator Romeo Dallaire, founder of the Genocide Prevention Group.

Mr. Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal MP for Etobicoke Centre and Vice-Chair of the Genocide Prevention Group, said “how often have we heard the words that ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ Nonetheless, today we have witnessed attempts at a genocide by attrition in Darfur, Sudan; we also witnessed the Rwandan genocide take place before our eyes. All of our resolutions are nothing more than fine sounding rhetoric unless each and every one of us makes a pledge to act when hatred, conflict or crimes against our fellow human beings occur. During this year’s commemoration of the Holocaust, let us pledge to ourselves and those who have placed their trust in our leadership, a pledge of two simple words: Never Again!”

For more information:

Mallory Mroz
All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity, chaired by MP Paul Dewar
Groupe parlementaire multipartite pour la prévention du génocide et autres crimes contre l’humanité, présidé par député Paul Dewar
Tel.: (613) 995-8955
Cell: (613) 799-9059
Fax: (613) 996-5323
prev-gen@parl.gc.ca
www.preventiongenocide.org