A/HRC/10/30
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40. The office of the Special Adviser has used its inventory of the information sources
available to the United Nations to identify the resources most relevant to the Special Adviser’s
own monitoring and analysis and to ensure the most efficient and effective forms of monitoring.
An information management officer in the office is responsible for maintaining contacts with
counterparts in operational departments and in ensuring that the Special Adviser is briefed on
any emerging concerns promptly.
C. Participation in conferences, workshops and outreach activities
41. The Special Adviser and his staff have endeavoured to participate in international and
regional conferences relevant to the prevention of genocide, using such opportunities to learn
from the experiences of others and to increase awareness of the mandate. The Special Adviser, or
his staff, participated in events in Addis Ababa, Buenos Aires, London, Oslo, Vienna, Sheffield
and Washington D.C., in addition to a number of events held in New York. The conferences and
workshops were dedicated to issues such as the prevention of genocide in Africa; the
comprehensiveness of existing law regarding the prevention of genocide; links between the
responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide; and indicators for predicting genocide.
42. On 21 January 2009, pursuant to a request of the Human Rights Council in its
resolution 7/25, OHCHR organized in Geneva a seminar on the prevention of genocide. With
human rights experts drawn from Member States, the United Nations and civil society, the
seminar considered (a) the roles of special procedures and human rights treaty bodies in the
prevention of genocide, asking if there was a prevention gap; and (b) the role of the legal and
judicial systems in the prevention and punishment of genocide, asking what progress had been
made to date.
D. Office capacity
43. In its authorization for the 2008 budgetary year, the General Assembly established
additional posts for the Special Adviser. The office is currently staffed by five Professional
Officers (two covered by extra-budgetary resources), two General Services staff and one Junior
Professional Officer.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
44. On 9 December 2008, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of
the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the
Secretary-General issued a statement noting that the work of the United Nations in
preventing genocide encompassed a wide range of activities. In the broadest sense, the
United Nations promotes human rights, the rule of law and the fundamental equality of all
people. Through its global presence, the Organization provides practical assistance to
States in building democratic institutions and resolving disputes through peaceful means.
It has now established the office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.
In 2005, Member States agreed unanimously on a new, groundbreaking global norm, the
responsibility to protect (for the operationalization of which the Secretary-General has
appointed another special adviser, as mentioned above). In addition, the United Nations
also seeks to ensure that perpetrators of genocide are brought to justice promptly. Justice
is not only one of our main goals; it is itself an important means of prevention.
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