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Unlock the door to history's atrocities

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  • Unlock the door to history's atrocities

    Unlock the door to history's atrocities

    Financial Times; May 26, 2006
    By David Scheffer

    In spite of the relentless march of modernity, war atrocities and
    other human rights abuses of decades or even centuries ago continue to
    stoke anger and conflict across the globe. Remarkably, this often
    occurs among societies sharing common values and embracing
    globalisation. Collective memory of atrocities holds a historical
    death grip on so many peoples today that we desperately need a new
    means to help victims and perpetrators understand the past.

    Consider Serbia's sad example, in which self-censorship in politics
    and schoolbooks about atrocities continues to isolate the country. The
    recent death of Slobodan Milosevic, former Serbian leader - before the
    international court trying him could render a verdict - and Belgrade's
    subsequent failure to arrest Ratko Mladic, the indicted war criminal -
    fuelled both anger and memories.

    Is it any wonder that political reconciliation in the Balkans remains
    fragile or that Bosnia still seeks validation of Serbian-inspired
    genocide before the International Court of Justice?

    Remarkably, this anger often occurs among societies sharing common
    values and embracing globalisation. Consider Turkey. Kurdish riots
    threaten to reignite a civil conflict plagued by too many denials of
    past atrocities and present realities. Turkish officials have long
    contested labelling the forced marches and mass killings of Armenians
    by Ottoman authorities almost 100 years ago as "genocide". Some
    European nations demand that Ankara acknowledge genocide before
    approving Turkey's accession to the European Union. The recent defeat
    of French legislation criminalising denial of an "Armenian genocide"
    has intensified tensions. Turkey pulled out of Nato military
    exercises after Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, publicly
    described those events in Armenian history as "genocide". Pride and
    political agendas still divide Armenians, Turks and the western
    alliance. Japan, meanwhile, although a trading empire, is at
    loggerheads with South Korea and China (neither sporting clean human
    rights records) over how to explain and acknowledge aggressive
    criminal conduct before and during the second world war. Japanese
    school textbooks have reached new levels of revisionism about past
    atrocities. Officials dodge the truth. Junichiro Koizumi, prime
    minister, annually visits the Yasukuni shrine honouring Japanese war
    criminals, despite foreign protests. South Korea declassified
    documents that purportedly demonstrate Japan's culpability for crimes
    against humanity committed during its years as an occupier. Seoul
    insists that Tokyo assume responsibility.

    Relations between Poland and Russia are strained, too, partly because
    of the "reciprocal silence" underpinning memories of atrocities.
    Baltic states are revisiting, with rising anger, the killings and
    disappearances they endured under Soviet rule and in the second world
    war. Latin American societies remain burdened with past human rights
    outrages. Seeds have been planted to inspire decades of hatred and
    tension between the Islamic world and the US. Bush administration
    officials have seemed increasingly oblivious to allegations of torture
    and abuse within foreign detention facilities since September 11 2001,
    as well as to their own credibility gap on the invasion and occupation
    of Iraq.

    Civilian deaths under US firepower in Iraq and Afghanistan leave far
    too many questions unanswered. In contrast, Washington occasionally
    faces up to atrocity crimes committed long ago against its native and
    ethnic populations, but redemptive acts havenot fully overcome
    societal divisions.

    Robert Zoellick, US deputy secretary of state, noting Sino-Japanese
    tensions over the history of Japan's colonial rule in Taiwan, said:
    "One way to defuse some of the tension on both sides is to have what
    is called in diplomatic parlance a 'track two' effort, perhaps have
    historians of China and Japan, perhaps the US, too, examine the
    historical situation in world war two and perhaps other periods as
    well."

    Efforts similar to this have been attempted in various countries to
    address post-atrocity tensions plaguing society. Scholars convene
    conferences and truth commissions and accomplish much good work, but
    their efforts are insufficient. Records established by the
    international criminal tribunals remain remote and partial at best.

    The internet with its global reach offers a powerful way to educate
    people and compete with political demagoguery about atrocities. A
    consortium of leading independent scholars across the globe should
    collaborate to develop in cyberspace credible accounts of the facts
    about atrocities, drawing on solid research but striving to avoid
    intellectual gridlock. Each such historical account should be easily
    readable and printed in relevant languages so that ordinary people,
    particularly students, can learn from a trusted source, free of
    distortion. Other sources on atrocities and contested views must not
    be ignored, although it is important to remember that too much
    information in too many places on the web means most people remain
    ill-informed.

    Japanese, Turkish and Serbian schoolchildren - among many others -
    could use such a website to overcome their textbooks' shortcomings.
    Africans, as they gain internet access, could retrieve objective
    accounts of the atrocities that have plagued their continent.
    Competing websites and government efforts to block access would
    challenge the endeavour. But the existence of a reputable website
    might help ease tensions and discipline public officials by helping
    understanding of precisely what happened in the dark past.

    The writer, a former US ambassador at large for war crimes issues, is
    a law professor and director of the Centerfor International Human
    Rights at Northwestern University
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