Annan backs survivors of genocide, holocaust

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged on Sunday that the world body would continue to be a "close partner" to the survivors of genocide and holocaust aiming to transform their trauma into action to prevent a recurrence of war crimes.

In a prepared message to the International Conference of Survivors of Holocaust and Genocide that began on Sunday in Kigali, Rwanda, Annan said "painfully and belatedly" the international community was trying to do more to prevent and punish genocide and crimes against humanity.

"At last, the world is seeking an end to the culture of impunity," he said.

The UN has two international tribunals for war crimes and serious violations of humanitarian law: one for the former Yugoslavia and the other for Rwanda. Annan told the delegates that genocide shaped the founding of the UN because "the men and women who drafted the UN Charter did so as the world was learning the full horror of the Holocaust perpetrated against Jews and others by the Nazi regime."

Armenians, Bosnians, Jews and Rwandans are among some 250 delegates debating how best to remember the victims of genocide and improve the lives of survivors, Reuters reported, quoting Antoine Mugesera, chairman of Ibuka, a coalition of Rwanda genocide survivors' associations.

An exhibition of photos of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and weapons used to carry out the act is being held in parallel with the conference, Reuters reported. IBUKA and the New York-based Holocaust Survivors and their Children body organised the six-day event.