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1. Halting Genocide in Sudan

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
In January 2025, the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide published a report, “History is repeating itself in Darfur in the Worst Possible Way”: Halting Genocide in Sudan (PDF). This report focuses particularly on ethnically targeted mass atrocities in Darfur committed since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan in April 2023. It also assesses future risks, particularly as the rise in identity-based targeting by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces increases the risk of further mass atrocities. On January 7, 2025, the United States Department of State determined that genocide is being perpetrated in Darfur by members of the RSF, a powerful paramilitary group, and their allied militias. This determination is a somber acknowledgment of the horrific crimes endured by communities who experienced genocide 20 years ago and have been neglected for too long. This genocide is ongoing. Civilian protection must be an urgent priority for the US government and the international community. This report offers policy options for the US and other governments—acting individually and as part of regional and international bodies—to halt mass atrocities, bolster accountability mechanisms and local documentation efforts, and protect civilians from harm. These actions should include increased pressure on states that provide financial support to the RSF, securing pathways for humanitarian aid, and prioritizing civilian protection, including by supporting locally-led prevention and protection efforts.
Topic:
Genocide, Armed Forces, Atrocities, Armed Conflict, and Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and Darfur

2. "A Perfect Storm is Gathering": Risk of Mass Atrocities in South Sudan

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Publication Date:
11-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
The Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide has published two reports detailing the risk of mass atrocities in South Sudan, first in February 2022 and then in January 2023.1 In these reports, we identified a number of factors contributing to the risk of mass atrocities in South Sudan, including armed conflict in which civilians are targeted for brutal attacks, shrinking civic space, and the failure to fully and credibly implement measures of the peace agreement that ended South Sudan’s civil war in 2018. These challenges persist, exacerbated by the onset of war in neighboring Sudan and the impacts of severe flooding and drought. In September 2024, the government of South Sudan announced a two-year extension of the transitional period and postponed the holding of national elections. This extension is an opportunity for the government to make progress on key commitments to peace and justice. However, this delay is not itself a panacea for the mass atrocity risks that persist in South Sudan, which could see a return to violence if the transition falters or fails. This brief will examine ongoing and compounding risk factors for mass atrocities and offer recommendations for addressing these risks during the next two years.
Topic:
Elections, Transitional Justice, Atrocities, Armed Conflict, and Risk Assessment
Political Geography:
Africa and South Sudan

3. Mass Atrocity Crimes Against Women and Girls in Afghanistan

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
Afghanistan has consistently ranked among the ten highest-risk countries for a new onset of mass killing1 in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Statistical Risk Assessment. 2 Since 2021, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, many communities face a heightened risk of targeted violence. In 2021, the Museum’s Simon Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide issued warnings of potential mass atrocities against women and girls3 and the risk of genocide against the Hazara community.4 The Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) have collaborated on a series of convenings on the risks to civilians in Afghanistan and potential international responses to halt and prevent the Taliban’s crimes and advance accountability for the victims. In January 2024, the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide and USIP co-hosted a private roundtable discussion on mass atrocity crimes committed against women and girls by the Taliban. The conversation was held in recognition that crimes perpetrated against women and girls, while too often neglected, are often mass atrocities and require a coordinated response from the international community. The convening included researchers, policymakers, activists, legal experts, and other civil society representatives, who discussed the following questions: • What information has been collected about crimes targeting women and girls in Afghanistan, and what patterns emerge from this documentation? • How and why has gender persecution become a focus of investigative efforts? • What are the consequences of the Taliban’s persecution of women and girls? • How can the Taliban be held accountable for their crimes against women and girls? • What topics need further exploration? • What are recommendations for actions that can be undertaken in the coming year to address the Taliban’s crimes against women and girls? The discussion took place under the Chatham House rule. This report summarizes key topics from the conversation without attribution.
Topic:
Taliban, Women, Atrocities, Girls, and Risk Assessment
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and South Asia

4. Risk of Mass Atrocities in Mozambique

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
Mozambique ranks 24th in the Early Warning Project risk assessment for mass killing for 2020-21. The strongest risk factor is the armed conflict between the government and insurgents, which has killed over 1,300 civilians and displaced nearly 700,000 of the 2.32 million people in Cabo Delgado. To prevent mass atrocities, the government of Mozambique must invest in peacebuilding, provision of basic services, and professionalization of its armed services. All perpetrators of gross human rights violations must be held accountable. The U.S. and other governments should conduct a full mass atrocity risk assessment immediately, and analyze how their military assistance and private sector investments are impacting the conflict.
Topic:
Human Rights, Atrocities, Risk Factors, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Africa, Mozambique, and United States of America

5. “To Make Us Slowly Disappear”: The Chinese Government’s Assault on the Uyghurs

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide released a report in November 2021, “To Make Us Slowly Disappear”: The Chinese Government’s Assault on the Uyghurs. The Chinese government’s attacks on the Uyghur community are alarming in scale and severity. The report expresses the Museum’s grave concern that the Chinese government may be committing genocide against the Uyghurs, a Muslim community in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China. The report also details multiple crimes against humanity that the Chinese government is committing against the Uyghur population. These crimes include forced sterilization, sexual violence, enslavement, torture, forcible transfer, persecution, and imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty. The Museum’s findings, based on publicly available information, demonstrate that China is failing to uphold its responsibility to protect its citizens from genocide and crimes against humanity. The Chinese government must halt its attacks on the Uyghur people and allow independent international monitors to investigate and ensure that the crimes have stopped. The seriousness of the assault on the Uyghur population demands the immediate response of the international community to protect the victims.
Topic:
Genocide, Government, Human Rights, Minorities, State Violence, Atrocities, and Uyghurs
Political Geography:
China and Xinjiang

6. Building Relationships, Building Peace: The Role of Civilians and Civil Society in Preventing Mass Atrocities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide and Congo Research Group
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
Cycles of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have led to fluctuating levels of largescale, systematic violence against civilians. Two regions, the Grand Nord area of North Kivu province and the northeastern Ituri province, have featured both some of the worst violence and exceptional lulls in fighting. The roles of civil society actors in those two cases have varied—from encouraging armed-group mobilization to leading region-wide mediation efforts. Our analysis of civilian-led efforts in those two cases demonstrates that the boundaries of civil society in the DRC are fluid and context specific. In Grand Nord and Ituri, Congolese groups that typically fall outside modern liberal definitions of civil society that emphasize non-partisanship played important roles in mobilizing civilian communities, representing their interests to political leaders, and adopting strategies to prevent and mitigate mass atrocities. Those groups included members of the business community, customary elites, the Catholic Church, and nongovernmental organizations. We conclude that civil society actors had the most effect where they had close, personal relations with belligerents and where they had a deep-vested interest in stability. In Grand Nord, local Catholic Church leaders used their close relationships with armed groups to broker multiple peace agreements. Members of the business community in Grand Nord initially supported rebel groups such as the Congolese Rally for Democracy/Kisangani–Mouvement de libération (RCD/K-ML)—because the rebel groups provided tax relief and commercial financing to enhance their legitimacy. That relationship, however, meant that business leaders were also able to pressure rebel groups to participate in peace processes when conflict began to interfere with the business community’s financial interests. In Ituri, similar incentives led cattle ranchers and traders to play a similar role.
Topic:
Civil Society, Conflict, Civilians, Atrocities, Peacebuilding, and Atrocity Prevention
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo

7. Burma’s 2020 Elections and Ongoing Atrocity Risks Facing the Rohingya Population

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Publication Date:
10-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
Burma’s 2020 national elections, scheduled for November 8th, will take place in a fragile context of ongoing risk of genocide for the country’s minority Rohingya population and continuing mass atrocities—including war crimes and crimes against humanity—against other ethnic populations. While the elections themselves may not be a trigger for mass atrocities in Burma, the responses to the elections from within the country and internationally has the ability to either exacerbate or mitigate future atrocityrelated risks. Parliamentary seats at the national and state level will be voted upon in the November elections. Only 75% of the total seats will be contested, as the country’s constitution reserves 25% of seats for the military.1 At the time of writing, it appears as though most Rohingya within Burma—members of an ethnic and religious minority that has been the victims of genocide—will be denied the right to vote.2 The approximately one million Rohingya who now live as refugees in Bangladesh will likewise be unable to vote in the elections. At least six Rohingya candidates have been prevented from running for office by the Union Election Commission (UEC), despite some of them having been approved candidates in the past and, in one case, having won a parliamentary seat. These candidates were blocked from running because they were unable to confirm the citizenship of their parents at the time of their birth.3 The UEC has applied such policies in a discriminatory fashion against Rohingya politicians,4 raising concerns that key Rohingya politicians will be unable to contest seats in the elections. This is not the first time the government has denied these rights, and the continued disenfranchisement and exclusion of Rohingya heightens their vulnerability to future atrocities. An election in which a people, who have been the victims of genocide, are denied the right to vote on the basis of their identity, is not a free, fair, or inclusive election. Any foreign government’s praise and support of Burma’s elections would be seen as endorsing a discriminatory process and lending support to the policies and behaviors that contributed to the genocide of the Rohingya and to ongoing risk. Instead, leaders around the world should use their available levers to mitigate atrocity risks, press for inclusivity regarding voting and political participation, and encourage other changes within Burma that advance the protection of the Rohingya and other vulnerable groups.
Topic:
Genocide, Elections, Risk, Atrocities, and Rohingya
Political Geography:
Burma and Southeast Asia