GPPi researcher calls for more citizen activism on genocide prevention

The German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT published an op-ed on March 27^th by GPPi Research Associate Sarah Brockmeier, who argues that, on the occasion of the 20^th commemoration of the Rwandan Genocide in early April, Germans should reflect on their own role during the genocide.

An English version of the article is available.

Especially in light of the current debate over German responsibility internationally, she contends, it is important to remember that Germany did as little as the rest of the international community to try to stop the genocide. Brockmeier recalls the complete lack of public interest or debate on Rwanda during the three months of the genocide in 1994. She writes that public interest is similarly low in today’s situations of mass atrocities in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Syria. If Germans protest nuclear energy or G8 summits and give money to save endangered species, she asks, why do they not protest unfolding atrocities and demand more German engagement in prevention?

Granting that foreign policy can be complex and every country’s influence on foreign conflicts has its limits, Brockmeier, argues that Germans should pressure their politicians to do at least what is in their power to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity. They have enough tools at their disposal: from political pressure over sanctions and international criminal justice to the support of peacekeeping missions with personnel and logistics. It is up to the German public to create the necessary political will for the timely deployment of these tools.

Next to her work at GPPi, Brockmeier is deputy head of Genocide Alert, a German advocacy NGO that raises awareness on mass atrocity prevention and response.