United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Juan Mendez spoke yesterday on the need for action in the face of extreme humanitarian disasters like genocide, as well as the need for diplomatic caution in rallying the international community to act.

In referring specifically to the current situation in the Darfur region of Sudan, Mendez noted the relative success of intervention by African Union troops. “In September it seemed like the African Union troops caused the parties to be a bit more tentative,” he said.

Jessica White ’07, the campus events taskforce coordinator for Swarthmore Sudan, one of the groups that organized the speech, saw Mendez’s speech as an affirmation of the group’s goals with its Genocide Intervention Fund, which aims to raise money for the AU troops in Darfur. “He espoused the fact that international military intervention would be something that would be necessary for humanitarian aid,” she said. “His comments served to provide support for our overall mission.”

Nikandre Kopcke ’08, a member of Swarthmore Sudan working primarily on the group’s GIF initiative, expressed frustration with the perceived caution that Mendez used in his speech. “His speech was overly focused on his occupation,” she said.

She argued that Mendez spent too much time focusing on the definition of genocide, rather than how to stop grave humanitarian disasters, whether they are classified as genocide or not. “I’m not interested in the semantics of whether this is genocide … I’m interested in solutions,” she said. “Your obligation as the U.N. Special Advisor is to take a stand.”

Mendez said he was not sure whether the situation in Darfur could be accurately described as genocide. “I really can’t tell if Colin Powell was right in calling it genocide,” he said, referring to former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s declaration calling the situation a genocide after visiting the region last summer.

However, he argued that the terminology is not so important. “We have a duty to act and prevent [man-made humanitarian disasters] whether they are genocide or not,” he said.

Much of his speech was spent outlining the charges and challenges of his newly-created post. “I have to work on this by trial and error and make my own mistakes,” Mendez said.

He argued that one of the toughest challenges facing his office is obtaining information about dangerous humanitarian situations in time to act on the information.

“We have to both obtain the information and package it in a way that will lead to action,” he said. “Gauging exactly where the intervention is most appropriate is a difficult task.”

He noted that diplomatic caution on the part of the international community has been a major force in allowing the situation in Darfur to continue. “The parties are being emboldened by the limitations of the international presence,” he said, referring to the AU troops in the region.

He expressed general support for private action to combat genocide and similar humanitarian disasters, though he did not refer to any specific things that private citizens could do. “There’s something that each one of us can do to prevent genocide,” he said.