NEWS

Within the framework of the Conference on Human Rights, the Slovenian Prime Minister, Janez Janša, held a series of talks with the conference participants. Among other people, he talked with representatives of the civil society and with the Minister of the Interior of Iceland.  

Dr Mark Vlasic, lecturer at the Georgetown University, who is of Slovenian descent, outlined for Prime Minister Janša the experience he had gained as one of the former prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mr Vlasic stressed that a more efficient prevention of mass atrocities will in the future require the strengthening of the civil society's efforts. In that respect, he welcomed the proposal of Prime Minister Janez Janša that the civil society active in this field should unite in the Alliance for the prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities. 

Prime Minister Janez Janša and Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Dr Simon Adams, exchanged their views on the initiative to strengthen the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Mr Adams expressed a strong support to the initiative. They shared the opinion that the existing legal mechanisms need to be supplemented in order to facilitate a timely and efficient prevention of mass atrocities. The key action in this respect will be the establishment of a forum of like-minded countries, while the role of the civil society is important, too. Mr Adams outlined the progress in the field of building a contact–point network for the responsibility to protect and welcomed the decision of the Slovenian government to also appoint its contact point. Mr Adams and Prime Minister Janša agreed that the establishment of the aforementioned network is of extreme importance, especially in terms of early warning of the danger of mass atrocities worldwide. 

The Minister of the Interior of Iceland, Mr Ögmundur Jonasson, expressed his appreciation of the conference and highlighted its profound implications for the current global efforts to tackle the financial crisis. Moreover, they both agreed that the existing legal mechanisms for the prevention of genocide are not effective and fast enough. Prime Minister Janša outlined for Minister Jonasson the Government's measures to stabilise the Slovenian economy. Mr Jonasson stressed that Iceland’s success in stabilizing its economic system had been the result of a broad national consensus facilitating prompt and energetic action in the field of economic policy. Prime Minister Janša and Minister Jonasson also touched upon Iceland’s approaching the EU.