ULTIMATE CRIME, ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE

An International Conference
Yerevan, Armenia April 20-21, 2005

Organized by

The National Commission for the Commemoration of the

90^th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Opening Address                                                                                                    

H.E. Robert Kocharian, President of the Republic of Armenia

Opening Statement                                                                                                 

Session I – Desecration of Human Rights, Past and Present

1.      The Meaning and Importance of Human Rights

2.      Human Rights and International Law                                                  

3.      Crimes against Humanity in International Law                                

Break                                                                                                                        

4.      Geopolitics and Human Rights                                                             

5.      Challenges of Governance and Human Rights in Multi-Ethnic Regions     

Discussion                                                                                                       

Lunch                                                                                                                         

Session II – The Ultimate Crime

1.      The Rwandan Genocide and the Failure of Humanity                           

2.      The Lessons of Past Genocides as a Guide to Averting Future Genocides 

3.      The Media, Bystanders, and Humanitarian Intervention                 

4.      Intervention, International Law, and Human Rights in the Middle East

and the Caucasus                                                              

Discussion                                                                                                       

Break                                                                                                                        

Session III – Prevention and Action

1.      The Responsibility of the World to Prevent Genocide                          

2.      Factors Facilitating and Impeding Genocide                                              

Discussion                                                                                                       

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Session IV– Truth, Reconciliation, and Transitional Justice: The Ultimate Challenge

1.      Truth and Reconciliation                                                      

2.      Impunity vs. Retributive Justice in Crimes against Humanity                    

3.      Repairing Historical Injustices: Amnesia, Retributive Justice,

or seeking Reconciliation through Truth?                                           

Discussion                                                                                                       

Break                                                                                                                        

Session V – Turkish-Armenian Relations: Divided by History United by Geography

1.      Challenges to Turkish-Armenian Dialogue: The Creation of a Common Body of Knowledge                                                          

2.      Promoting Recognition of the Armenian Genocide via Third-Parties                                                                        

3.      Memory, Forgetting, and Silence: How Collectivities Remember their Past,

and Its Implications for Current Relations                                       

Discussion                                                                                                       

Lunch                                                                                                                        

4.      Nationalism and History: A Reconsideration                                             

5.      Accepting Responsibility: Intergenerational Guilt, or Catharsis         

6.      Genocide Denial: The Continued Repression of Human Rights             

Break                                                                                                                       

7.      Looking Backward, Moving Forward                                            

Discussion                                                                                                       

Closing Addresses

1.      Representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe                 

2.      Representative of the Council of Europe                                                

3.      Representative of the United Nations                                                                 

4.      Representative of the Government of Armenia