Auschwitz Institute Signs Agreement with the African Union

The Auschwitz Institute signed an agreement with the African Union on 19 February in Addis Ababa to create the African Network for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention.

Mr. El Ghassim Wane, director of the African Union's Peace and Security Department, signed the agreement at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital as the union enters its 50th anniversary year.

In the short term, the initiative provides for:

• financial and technical support for the undertaking of national initiatives to prevent genocide and mass atrocities throughout the African continent
• an education and training program for state and AU Commission officials, conceived and delivered by the Auschwitz Institute with the Peace and Security Department of the AU Commission to address the region's specific needs for prevention
• development of a genocide and mass atrocity prevention curriculum for AU member states to incorporate into their training of national civil servants

In the long term, the initiative envisions:

• the creation of regional and sub-regional mechanisms of inter-governmental coordination on early prevention, and support for those mechanisms that already exist
• the fostering of sustainable leadership on genocide and mass atrocity prevention in member-state governments