The Lemkin Summit: A Weekend of Learning and Action

From January 30-February 1, over 150 passionate activists from across the country, of various ages and backgrounds, gathered to attend the Lemkin Summit to End Genocide and Mass Atrocities, a three-day conference organized by Jewish World Watch and the Enough Project in Washington D.C. The conference was named after Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term genocide and spent his career fighting for legal recognition of the crime, now defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Through lectures, workshops, and film screenings participants were given the opportunity to learn more about ongoing atrocities in Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan. In addition to expanding participants’ knowledge on these conflict areas, the Summit sought to develop discourse on how we, as both individuals and community members, can participate in the fight against genocide and mass atrocities.

Participants heard from representatives from nongovernmental organizations and the US government—including the National Security Council and the office of the Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region in Africa—who shared their knowledge about ongoing mass atrocities as well as tactics and approaches to address these problems and prevent them from occurring in the future. The panels and workshops covered various topics such as: the tracking of illicit funds, conflict prevention tactics, political accountability, and private sector engagement. The Summit also trained veterans and beginners alike on how to be better advocates and more specifically, how to engage with Members of Congress.

Motivational speaker Omekongo Dibinga discussed the importance of narrative in activism, “No one cares what you know until they know that you care.” Emphasizing storytelling as one of the many ways to approach advocacy, his words came at a crucial period, when the Lemkin Summit participants were preparing to meet with their Representatives on Capitol Hill. With nearly 100 meetings scheduled with Senators and Members of Congress, participants advocated for policies focused on preventing genocide and mass atrocities.

Our day on the Hill consisted of three policy asks: the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Global Anti-Poaching Act, and the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act (GAPA). The adoption of GAPA would authorize the Atrocities Prevention Board (APB), a high-level interagency body that works to ensure that those in the highest levels of the U.S. government are prioritizing the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. The APB was first stood up by President Obama in 2012, but without Congressional authorization, the APB could disappear with the next President.

The enthusiasm from conference participants showed that the anti-genocide movement is still alive and strong. We hope that the momentum created by such an energetic gathering will continue to inspire activists all over the country to get involved, take action, lobby their officials, and bring attention to some of the most heinous crimes committed in the world.

Check out our Storify for some pictures from the Lemkin Summit via social media.