The Budapest Centre for International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities in collaboration with partners from the Visegrad Group, Transitions (TOL), Milan Simecka Foundation, and University of Gdansk, Noha and University of Warsaw organized the last of the four workshops entitled V4 Prevention held in Visegrad group to prevent mass atrocities.

The four-semester programme consisted in a three-day workshop in Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic and Poland and aimed at building skills, contributing to address the threat of mass atrocities, promoting dialogue, strengthening expertise and knowledge, and creating national networks for the implementation of mass atrocities preventative strategies.

The forth workshop took place in Warsaw from 5th to 7th of October 2015. The workshop enjoyed the outstanding contribution of Dr. Henryka Moscicka-Dendys, Polish Undersecretary of State, Dr. Tomasz Giaro, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Warsaw, and Dr. Elżbieta Mikos-Skuza, Director of the NOHA programme at the University of Warsaw. Dr. Gyorgy Tatar, Chair of the Budapest Centre, was joined by the three of them in the panel introducing the workshop.

Warsaw 2

The first day provided participants with the basics on the responsibility to protect (R2P) and the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities and touched upon the legal definition of genocide and the concrete cases of mass atrocities. The second day focused on the work and activities of the United Nations, European External Action Service and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in the field of genocide and mass atrocities prevention. In particular, the representatives of the organizations explained how prevention is integrated in their daily work and what these international entities can do to decrease the risk of atrocity crimes. The third day of the workshop was dedicated to a simulation exercise and the development of national and regional capabilities of the Visegrad Group.

Read the full report here.

Read more about V4 Prevention 2015 here.