Happy Holidays Season

We’ve accomplished so much together in 2014. AIPR hosted three Raphael Lemkin Seminars for Genocide Prevention: a Global edition in November in Poland, our Latin American edition in Poland in October, and another Latin American edition in Argentina in June. Also in June, we launched a Lemkin Seminar for National Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, an initiative to develop a highly trained network of community leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina attuned to prevention. AIPR also participated in and co-organized an array of activities across the globe, including in Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Hungary, Mexico, Paraguay, Switzerland, Tanzania, and the United States.

Our work changes lives. “The influence of the Lemkin Seminars have led me to become a professor of genocide and international crimes at one of Mexico City’s universities. Teaching and learning from students in this field has been a true inspiration to my everyday work in these topics,” said Mariana Salazar Albornoz, Director for International Humanitarian Law in the Legal Advisory of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I have also been moved by the visits we have done through the Lemkin Seminars to the Auschwitz concentration camps and other places of memory,” she added, “which have helped me to better understand the process of mass atrocities and the importance of early prevention and warning.”

The accomplishments of our alumni have not gone unnoticed. The Latin American Network for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, of which AIPR serves as Secretariat, “demonstrates how shared objectives and lessons learned from past experience may help States identify effective protection strategies,” wrote United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in July 2014. And according to the Chair’s Conclusions of the International Conference on Genocide Prevention, the Latin American Network is a regional mechanism that “immensely” contributes towards the prevention and punishment of atrocity crimes. What’s more, AIPR’s work was featured this year in the prestigious ILSA Quarterly and The Courier, among other journals and media outlets.

We couldn’t have done all this without the help of our partners, supporters, and of course, individuals like you. Now that 2014 is coming to a close, we invite you to make a contribution to AIPR. Help us build a world that prevents genocide and other mass atrocities – please donate today.

Sincerely,

Tibi Galis
Executive Director
Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation