On October 11th, the Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide begins in Montreal. The Echenberg Family Conference on Human Rights is organized by the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism and the McGill University Faculty of Law.

The conference aims to facilitate a dialogue between policy-makers, NGOs, media, young leaders, and genocide survivors, in order to shift the focus on genocide from intervention to prevention. Notable speakers include Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Roméo Dallaire and Wole Soyinka.

Compiled on the conference website are:

• Selected links on genocide in the 20th century
• Links to UN activities relating to genocide prevention
• Cases heard by international tribunals:
  • International Criminal Trial for Rwanda
  • International Criminal Trial for Former-Yugoslavia
  • International Court of Justice

• Domestic cases in the US and Canada:
  • Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86609 (S.D.N.Y., Dec. 1, 2006) United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • Mugesera v. Canada, Supreme Court of Canada [2005] 2 S.C.R. 91, 2005 SCC 39

I will be blogging from the conference, focusing on the legal aspects of this complex issue. Sessions over the 3-day conference include:

• Accountability for Genocide: Does Criminal Justice Prevent Future Atrocities?
• Can the ICC help stop the atrocities in Darfur?
• Inducing the Will to Act: Humanitarian Intervention and The Responsibility to Protect Against Genocide
• Making Prevention Feasible: Overcoming the Fear of Quagmire