Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies comprises academics located across Australia sharing the following objectives: (a) To undertake primary research which will include: Establishing the need for a legal-social science discourse about the use and meaning of the term genocide; Finding a universally acceptable definition, one that overcomes the acknowledged deficiencies in the extant UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) and one which is limited to the intended annihilation of defined groups; Analysing the motives for and the ideological bases of such group-specific killings across the spectrum of antiquity, the middle ages and modernity; Studying specifically the relationship between racism and genocide; Investigating the relationship between modernity and genocide; Examining the socio-political conditions under which mass killings can and do occur; Evaluating the pre-requisites for the perpetration of genocide; Attempting to locate legal and moral responsibility for genocidal policy and practice; Addressing the assumption that there are 'worthy and unworthy victims'; Investigating the nature and essence of 'colonial ethnocide'; Analysing possible guards and safeguards against potential genocides and repetitions of genocide; Evaluating the use and effectiveness of 'humanitarian intervention' as a viable process for groups at risk. (b) To undertake consultancy work of an academic nature; (c) To maintain undergraduate and postgraduate courses and supervise higher degree work in this field; (d) To conduct community and public education programmes; (e) To develop curricula for educators in secondary and tertiary institutions; (f) To conduct seminars on strategies for education about genocide; (g) To provide a resource and clearing-house facility to serve community, media and academic interest; (h) To raise funds for library resources, scholarships for students to travel; (i) To undertake any activities that further the objectives of the above.