Prevention

Drivers of violations must be addressed to prevent them

Hate speech is an early warning indicator, but may also trigger human rights violations. In order to prevent incitements to violence, one needs to understand their root causes.

Construction of negative stereotypes and group hostility are among the factors that may provide a basis for mass atrocities and other human rights violations. Images of “the others” as less human, less valuable, often is a part of construction of stereotypes before atrocities are committed. Often such dehumanization and group hostility refers to ethnic or religious identity and hence provide a basis for discrimination of persons on the basis of such belonging, and even to persecution or genocide.

These and other root causes need to be addressed and combatted in order to prevent genocide and other human rights violations.

“Root causes of violations must be addressed,” says Miriam Puttick at Minority Rights Group Intl.

Mass atrocities are however committed in social and geo-political contexts, where such group identities are misused to create conflicts and violence.

Such drivers of mass atrocities, as well as strategies to prevent them, are addressed  by the experts in the interviews available here.
Related resources
External Links

Here are a few selected recent reports and films addressing issues related to the Yazidi case. In the case and topic sections you will find links to other relevant external resources.