Preventing Genocide

This video documentary and archive grew out of the work of Dr. David A. Hamburg. Produced as an extension to Hamburg's book of the same name, the collection presents the perspectives of numerous world leaders, including Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu, as an educational resource that reveals the growing opportunities for the prevention of mass violence. Genocide need not happen ever again.

Preventing Genocide looks at three different case studies: the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and the Rwandan genocide. Through these studies, viewers can learn the warning signals that often precede genocide, and see the possibilities for intervention and prevention. The brief footage that illustrates each case study examines potential preventative actions. Finally, the documentary examines the additional intellectual, technical, and institutional resources now available for prevention that were absent or minimal when earlier genocides occurred.

More than two dozen videotaped interviews are presented with the documentary. Through their own work and life experiences, these key individuals promote the prevention of genocide. The interviews span twenty-nine recorded hours of in-depth discussion and serve as source material for the final documentary.

In the three genocides explored in the documentary, there is inherent drama: flagrant incitement, vivid brutality, and heartbreaking missed opportunities. Yet as the video evolves, there is an authentic basis for hope, illuminating today’s opportunities for genocide prevention, which have become increasingly clear in the past few years and are likely to grow in the foreseeable future.