Since the Second World War genocide has become a subject of study. Today, most history books include, at the very least, a mention of the past genocides and devote sections on the atrocious calamities. Additionally, within academia, various courses are being wholly dedicated to the subject of genocide. Also, there are multiple memorials for mass atrocities in Africa, the one that stands out is the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, which focuses on the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. That gruesome incident claimed nearly a million victims in 100 days.
The increase in genocide education
highlights the fact there is still a need for education that raises people’s
awareness concerning the tragic consequences of genocide. Indeed, as
demonstrated by the United Nations (UN) Conference, entitled The
Global Prevention of Genocide: Learning from the Holocaust,
although there is a general disagreement of how genocides should be taught,
most experts agree on the need to teach about the devastating atrocities
(Mortimer & Glahn, 2010).
Generally speaking, the most acquiesced
motive for genocide education is the belief that it will eventually lead to
genocide prevention in the future. A second important reason for teaching about
genocide is for the purpose of bringing reconciliation to feuding parties. Some
argue that genocides should be openly discussed because the pronunciation of
the truth brings about justice and consequential reconciliation.
Genocide has demonstrated to be as much
a crime of the present as a crime of the past, with numerous cases of genocide
plaguing the post Genocide Convention period. Genocide prevention is said to be
one of the weaknesses of the genocide regime, for the Convention, which was to
aid in the prevention of the crime, has not been fully successful in achieving
its aim. Many believe that genocide prevention is to be achieved by educating
the current and future generations about genocide. This belief comes from the
premise that “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” (Santayana,
1905:284).
Institutions, as well as educators, need
to pay more attention to how genocide is being taught to the current
generation. In order to achieve the genocide prevention objective, they may
need to enhance or maximize their teaching methods. Few, such as Ellen J.
Kennedy, the Interim Director of the Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
of the University of Minnesota, have argued that the current method of teaching
genocide is not the most appropriate in terms of bringing about prevention
because we teach about genocide [perhaps for the sake of
teaching] rather than inject how-to mechanisms to prevent it. Kofi Annan,
the former UN Secretary General, following the same line of thought, has
stated:
If our goal in teaching students about
the Holocaust is to make them think harder about civic responsibility, human
rights and the dangers of racism, then presumably we need to connect the
Holocaust with other instances of genocide, and with ethnic conflicts or
tensions in our own time and place. That would enable students not only to learn
about the Holocaust, but also to learn important lessons from it. (Annan,
2010)
Certainly, education that leads towards
acquiring more knowledge about the causes and effects of mass killings is
instrumental in preventing future mass atrocities. However, it is no revelation
that alone it cannot be a deterrent unless we develop a holistic preventative
approach to such tragedies. The African Union Human Rights Memorial project has
plans to develop and distribute instructional materials and provide access to
teaching resources for organizing educational workshops on-line. It is expected
that this on-line module will aid new generations of Africans to reflect and
develop thoughts that will contribute to genocide prevention by providing them
with a tutorial that is not given in regular classrooms.
Moreover, it is commonly believed that
teaching about genocide has the ability to provide reconciliation to those who
were on both sides of the tragedy. Indeed, the Asia-Pacific Human Rights
Information Centre has claimed that “acknowledging the suffering of the victims
through formal education is an effective way to foster reconciliation between
victims and perpetrators” (Dy, 2009:134).
It should be noted however, that there
is a second school of thought that argues that discussing genocide opens old
wounds and may reignite feelings of hatred and angst. In Cambodia, for
instance, the modern history books include very little about the rule of the
Khmer Rouge. Khmer Rouge is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering,
which resulted in genocide. Indeed, the government has edited the history books
in order to skip accounts of what happened in the past – with the aim of
prompting the victims to forget the atrocities. However, because current
generations do not know much about what happened under Khmer Rouge, there is a
disconnect between generations. Also, in this case the victims of genocide are
denied the full truth, and therefore, denied justice; and henceforth may find
it difficult to fill the gaps that exist in their personal and social
histories. That alone is a cause for concern.
Essentially, there is an ongoing debate
concerning what will pave the way for reconciliatory measures: ignoring the
past, or confronting it. The majority of literature tends to demonstrate
that public pronunciation of the truth will bring about, to a certain extent,
reconciliatory attitudes in the way past mass atrocities in Africa are treated.
It is in this spirit that the AUHRM online educational module should be
designed.
(article published in justiceafrica.org)
