Underskog

Rwanda and Congo DRC is hitting the headlines around the world – finally. After decades of suffering horrific atrocities ignored by press and television. At Voksenaasen 20-21 November an impressive group of people are coming together to share and deliberate on the past, present – and future of this region.


Beyond Horror in Rwanda and DRC
- breaking the wall of silence of unprecedented mass violence


Second Conference in the Genocide-Mass Violence Series


This conference shall deal with the roots and ramifications of genocide in Rwanda and the region, and the mass violence that is currently tearing apart the peoples and nations in the Great Lakes region. It is about colonial and post colonial atrocities, warring fractions, greed and the international community’s complicity and negligence in one of history’s most gruesome but sadly still ongoing tragedies.


Beyond Horror is first of all about the heroic fight for survival and dignity – and the search for a way forward by the peoples in the region.


“Genocides and other mass atrocities are consequences of complex political actions not, as they are often characterised, as simply senseless slaughter based mainly on identity or cultural difference. This means that besides the humanitarian actions to stop or minimise killings, torture and rape of civilians, especially women and children, the crucial challenge to managing or solving them requires political solutions, rooted in participation of all affected persons, truth, power restructuring and reconciliation.”


These words set the tone for the statement submitted from the Voksenaasen conference on Genocide in Nov 2007. Pursuing the intentions to “continue the painful path into investigating ourselves and the challenges we and others are facing to more adequately respond to the ever growing numbers of victims of global, regional and local injustices committed.”