Bearing in mind the very purpose of all activities of the Human Security Network, namely to persue security politicies that focus on the protection of the idividual and society through promoting of freedom to fear and freedom from want, the Austrian ministry of foreign affairs together with the European Training Center and Human Rights and Democracy, established in Gratz in the year 2000, of which I am the Director, produced a manual on human rights education, now being translated into several languages which is intended to offer a tool for Human Rights learning worldwide - it can also be found on the website.

Education in this context involves also basic knowledge of international humanitarian law and protection of human rights and human security through learning about and remembrance of past genocides, and particularly the Holocaust. Generally we would like to recommend a more integrative approach in the education on Human Rights and Humanitarian law on the Holocaust and genocides in educational efforts as such. Austria has been and remains a firm supporter of institutionalized international systems of individual criminal responsibility as in the International Criminal Court. But like in the case in the international ad hoc tribunals justice needs to be seen to be done, which means that the work of the International Criminal Court should also be part of educational efforts in order to achieve sustainable results.

Finally we welcome the proposals made by the United Nation’s Secretary General to set up a committee under the genocide convention and a special rapporteur in the prevention of genocide to report also directly to the Security Council. We think that the security council in particular the permanent members of it, do have a very special responsibility to act in the interest of the international community as a whole and not only just in their national interest. In this context the criteria outlined in the report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, initiated by Canada, provide very valuable yardsticks.

Finally let me thank the government of Sweden for it’s courageous and encouraging cycle of conferences on genocide and express the hope that these efforts and in particular the Stockholm International Forum 2004, will soon lead to concrete results.

Thank you very much!