Research Project: Ending Mass Atrocities: Echoes in Southern Cultures

Summary and Update

November 2009

Contributing Authors

By September 2009, all contributing authors to the project and final publication were identified and commissioned to write their chapters. This followed an intensive period of research, communication with scholars around the world, and interdisciplinary consultations in the four case study countries, to identify suitable authors from all parts of the world with the necessary qualifications and motivation. A major aim of this project is to draw upon the wisdom and knowledge of southern scholars whose work is often highly respected and well known within their home countries or regions but is often not known or ignored in the literature in international relations and politics, and in policy circles around the United Nations. All the commissioned authors originate from countries that experienced violent conflict or mass atrocities, and have first hand experience in living through and addressing these issues. Almost all of them have chosen to work in their countries of origin. The authors represent a wide geographic spread and a mix of Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanophone and Arabophone, and they draw on a broad range of literary and scholarly traditions. As with the editors, a solid gender balance also exists. The final list of contributing authors is as follows:

Ending Mass Atrocities: Echoes in the South

Chapter Authors Affiliation Country of Origin/Work

PART ONE: THEMES 1.Religion and Prof Mutombo Professor of World Religion; State Democratic Spiritual Nkulu- N’sengha Univ of California, Northridge Republic of Traditions Congo/USA 2. Philosophy Prof Yolanda Angulo Professor of Philosophy, UNAM, Mexico and Ethics Parra and Director-General , Centro de Estudios Genealógicos para la investigación de la cultura en México y América Latina, 3. Culture and Dr. Nadera Criminologist, Faculty of Law, Palestine/Israel Customary Law Shalhoub-Kevorkian Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Himmat Zu’bi Centre for Gender Studies, HUJ Palestine/Israel 4.Aesthetics and Prof Koulsy Lamko Professor of Theatre, Mexico city, /Mexico Artistic and and, author, playwright, musician Expressions Dr. Rama Mani Sr Research Associate, CIS PART TWO: COUNTRY CASES

5. Kosovo Nita Luci Lecturer of Anthropology, Kosovo University of Pristina, (completing Phd at U of Michigan) 6. Prof Paul Rutayisire Professor of History and Director, Rwanda and Centre for Conflict Management, Prof Jean-Marie National University of Rwanda Kayishema (NUR) Professor of Literature, Director of University Centre for Arts, NUR 7. Cambodia Prof. Ang Choulean Professor of Anthropology, Royal Cambodia University of Phnom Penh 8. Nepal Dr. Arjun Karki President Rural Rehabilitation Nepal Network Editors Dr. Rama Mani Senior Research Associate, Centre India/ (Introduction and for International Studies, University & Conclusion) of Oxford Prof. Thomas G. Presidential Professor of Political Weiss Science, The CUNY Graduate USA Center

Regional Inter-Disciplinary Consultations

In July and August 2009, four inter-disciplinary consultations were held in the four case study countries, Rwanda, Kosovo, Cambodia and Nepal. The consultation was convened by the national university or a local research institute in each country, and brought together a small group of scholars from different disciplines to discuss the project’s themes from a country- specific perspective.

The four consultations held were: • Rwanda: consultation jointly convened by the Centre for Conflict Management of the National University of Rwanda in Butare, and the Rwanda Governance Advisory Council, in Kigali, on 8 July.

• Kosovo: consultation convened by the Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pristina, in Pristina, on 17 July.

• Cambodia: consultation convened by the Vice Rector of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) and the Vice President of the Royal Academy of Cambodia at the RUPP in Phnom Penh, on 28 August. • Nepal: consultation convened by the President of the Rural Rehabilitation Network with professors from the leading universities and NGOs in Nepal, in Kathmandu on 5 August.

Participants in Rwanda consultation

Outcome of the Consultations

Each consultation led to deep and fruitful discussion of the emerging norm of the responsibility to protect, drawing on the expertise of country scholars from the different disciplines of philosophy, theology, anthropology, history, psychology, law, sociology and science, as well as a few NGOs in some cases. In each consultation two simultaneous strands could be detected in the initial discussions: on the one hand, support for the norm in principle, and on the other, hesitation about its application or potential misuse, based, often, on the historical experiences of the countries in question. In each country, the discussions led to the identification of a host of ancient and still relevant cultural, philosophical, spiritual and aesthetic traditions and practices, and historical precedents, where the principles and practices of the responsibility to protect were implicitly or explicitly relevant. The deeper exploration of these identified factors through the work of this project may prove useful in subsequent debates about the evolution and implementation of the concept of R2P in diverse contexts in the future.

The consultations served a variety of essential purposes. They helped to identify the country author/s who will write the chapter for the project; they created a peer/reference group of scholars that the author/s could continue to draw on to elicit a diversity of disciplinary perspectives while drafting the chapter; they provided a preliminary analysis of the subject and identified core issues that might need deeper study in each case; they introduced to the scholarly community the concept and evolution of R2P, hitherto little known or applied within the academic contexts in these four countries; and they provided a stimulus for inter-disciplinary discussion in the four cases, which, it is hoped, will be sustained.

Based on the success of the first round of consultations in the four countries, funding is being sought for a second round of consultations in 2010. These would allow the country authors to present their drafts and preliminary recommendations to a wider group of in-country scholars and graduate students for input prior to finalization, thus ensuring that a wider variety of views are reflected in each chapter.

Art, Artists and the Responsibility to Protect An additional purpose of the four country visits was to elaborate a secondary objective of this project, which is to examine the role of art and artists within situations with mass atrocities. The Project Director met with several artists in each country to discuss the role that art and aesthetic expressions and artists themselves have played before, during and after the mass atrocities, genocides or violent conflicts in their countries. In-depth, one-on-one interviews were held with a small number of select artists in each country across the different media of theatre, visual and contemporary art, music, dance, according to what emerged in each case as the most significant forms of art or artists. A short extract of the longer interview with four selected artists in each country was then recorded on film, to capture the breadth, specificity and main lessons of the artists in each country. It is hoped that a subsequent project might elaborate on and deal more specifically with this dimension of the responsibility to protect.

Vann Nath, the ‘Artist of S21’, writing his message for the project. Vann Nath survived the infamous S21 torture camp due to his paintings of Pol Pot, and has since painted innumerable scenes of the torture and atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, so that people can learn from history and never repeat it.

Current Status of the Project By October 2009, the project has advanced rapidly since its initiation in early 2009. This is thanks to the supportive environment provided by the CIS and the faculty, staff and students at the University of Oxford on one hand, and on the other hand the support and input from the GCR2P secretariat in New York. The GCR2P Secretariat was particularly successful in clarifying the concept and lobbying UN member states in advance of the UN General Assembly debate on R2P in late July 2009. Their analysis of the GA debate can be found at (http://www.globalr2p.org/media/pdf/GCR2P_General_Assembly_Debate_Assessment.pdf)

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