This Time We Knew: The Failure of the International Community to Prevent Genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur

Course Description:
After the horrors of the Holocaust, the international community drafted the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and pledged "never again" should such evil strike humanity. The pledge proved empty; numerous genocides followed. The cases of Bosnia (1992-1995) and Rwanda (1994) are particularly relevant: they happened in our lifetimes, just ten years ago.

The genocidal violence in Bosnia took place only a few hours flight from Copenhagen - in Europe. The genocide in Rwanda occurred after many international warnings had been issued and with UN peacekeepers present. This time we could not justify our inactivity by lack of knowledge or experience. This time we knew. How could all this happen? Why is there no serious international intervention in Darfur in Sudan?

In our class, we will examine the events of Bosnia and Rwanda in order to learn how such genocidal processes start, how they escalate, and how they might be stopped or even prevented. We will also look at other cases of genocide, in particular the ongoing conflict in Darfur in order to assess what - if any - lessons have been learnt from Rwanda.

Course Instructors:
Eric Markusen, Professor, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Danish Institute for International Studies, Department for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Copenhagen.
Martin Mennecke, LL.M., Ph.D. Candidate in International Law, Danish Institute for International Studies, Department for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Copenhagen.

Admission and application to the course:
Students must have completed three years of university studies by the summer 2005 in order to be admitted to the course. There may be exemptions from this general rule if the course is not fully booked at the deadline for applications. The course ends with an oral exam, and the students will obtain 7,5 ECTS credits when completing the course.

Application guide and form is available at http://www.summeruniversity.org/sw4087.asp
Deadline for applications:
15 April (for students requiring a visa)
15 May (for all others)

Øresund Summer University: www.summeruniversity.org
ØSU is a new and innovative summer university, established in 2001. Through ØSU, a variety of universities offer summer courses of international quality within our areas of expertise. This year, more than 80 courses are offered in total, all of which are taught in English.

Apart from the courses, ØSU organises a series of social activities throughout the summer aimed at making the students´ stay even more enjoyable. The students come from around the world, but with a European bias. Expectedly one third will be from Scandinavia, one third from EU-countries and the remainder from countries such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Turkey, Japan, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Ghana etc. Most students are in their 20's. ØSU will provide accommodation for the course period.

For more information about the course, please contact:
Benedikte Luggin (mbj@teol.ku.dk) , +45 35 32 25 86
North/South Coordinator
Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen