UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is making the special adviser for the prevention of genocide a full-time post.
Marking the 13th anniversary Monday of the start of the atrocity where 800,000 Rwandans were slain in an orchestrated campaign, he called for "a global partnership against genocide" and pledged to strengthen U.N. mechanisms to ensure such events never happen again.
The genocide-prevention post is held by Juan Mendez of Argentina, and the secretary-general said in a message marking the genocide anniversary he will also upgrade the U.N. Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention.
He said Africa has taken its own steps as well, such as the signing of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development for the Great Lakes Region, which contains measures on genocide prevention and punishment.
"Preventing genocide is a collective and individual responsibility," Ban said. "Everyone has a role to play, governments, the media, civil society organizations, religious groups and each and every one of us."
The U.N. Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to prosecute individuals responsible for committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during 1994, when Hutu militias and others killed Tutsis and moderate Hutus, often using machetes or clubs.
The same panel has approved about 20,000 peacekeepers for Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region, but the government in Khartoum has not yet let them in, having voiced fears they would be seen as a foreign invasion force.
