Nazi Germany needed the cooperation of judges and lawyers in order to carry out its atrocities, but would anti-atrocity legislation have prevented the Holocaust? What role could or should the United States play in preventing atrocities throughout the world today?

Join us for a “history meets CLE” program as Sara E. Brown, Ph.D., the Executive Director of the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education at Brookdale Community College, and Zachary D. Kaufman, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Houston Law Center attempt to answer these questions.

They will look at history by examining the legacy of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, including the history of its original author, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, the politics behind the drafting process, and the Convention's lasting impact.

They will then move to the present. Professor Kaufman will discuss his latest article, Legislating Atrocity Prevention (published in the Harvard Journal on Legislation), about the bipartisan U.S. approach to preventing genocide and other atrocities, including through ratifying the Genocide Convention.

Despite promises made by the international community after the Holocaust to “never again” allow genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity to be committed, these “atrocity crimes” have been perpetrated again and again. A December 2020 report called “Countries at Risk for Mass Killing 2020-21: Early Warning Project Statistical Risk Assessment Results” shined a spotlight on countries where the risk of mass killings is high. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, South Sudan and Sudan, Columbia, Turkey and Nigeria were all on the list. Other countries noted by the report but which were not considered “new” dangers included Myanmar and Syria.

Of course, the United States is not immune to evil forces of hate. A recent article in NJ.com reported that the Anti Defamation League found 323 incidents of hate propaganda from white supremacists in new Jersey last year.

This is therefore a crucial time to consider new initiatives to address existing and future humanitarian crises.

It is said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Learn how lawyers and legislators can move the process forward to finally reach the goal of “never again.”