Vatican City, Jan 27, 2004 / 22:00 pm
During his intervention at the Fourth Stockholm International Forum “Preventing Genocide,” Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations, insisted that education in peace and mutual understanding is the key to preventing future genocides.
“Humanity has seen world wars, genocides, mass murders, and ethnic cleansings,” said Migliore. “However, among all forms of large-scale violence, genocide sets itself apart by the evil motivation behind it, namely, its specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation, a race, an ethnic or religious group, a defenseless or vulnerable group of human beings, simply for being such.”
“My delegation,” he stated, “wishes to highlight three specific points: first, the need to implement existing legal instruments against genocide; second, the central role of the international, regional and sub-regional organizations; third, the commitment to education and vigilance against genocide.”
The Nuncio emphasized that the instruments and structures against genocide "have not prevented new genocides from happening.”