Global Crime: Genocide, Terrorism & Human Trafficking


The General theme of the Annual Conference will be Global Crime. To suit everyone's interest the AC will be divided in three specific themes: Genocide, Terrorism and Human Trafficking.

Each day of the conference will have a different theme subject. The first day this will be genocide, with the reputed genocide in Darfur in particular. In the morning, participants have the opportunity to attend both an introduction speech and two in-depth lectures to familiarize themselves with this subject. In the afternoon groups of up to twenty people will further focus on sub themes, such as the part of Darfur's neighboring states. We have chosen this approach for all three themes, so they are presented to the participants like a puzzle. Was there a matter of genocide in Darfur? How to combat women trafficking? How to explain the radicalization of some Western-European immigrants?
It is our hope that participants will learn more about these themes by looking for the answers to those and other questions. At the end of the day, the various pieces of the puzzle will stand testimony to the knowledge and insights gained.

Violation of Human Rights.

All three themes to be discussed, namely genocide, human trafficking and terrorism, are violations of human rights. With genocide, it is a matter of the state violating the human rights of its citizens. Human trafficking violates the human rights of the less fortunate (often women and children). Terrorism by either states or terrorist networks violate the human rights of the 'unknown individual', and therefore society as a whole. Key to the congress this year are the dark sides of globalisation and international affairs. Genocide, terrorism and human trafficking are all international problems that demand the attention and intervention of the international community. Intervention, something which the international community is often not capable of. Or an intervention, such as the war in Iraq, that have a chance of further increasing tensions in national relations.

Location: Explore Amsterdam & The Hague

The congress will be held in two cities. It is our intention to facilitate the day themed genocide in the Peace Palace in The Hague. The other two days will be spent in Amsterdam. This way, the location of the congress perfectly suits the themes.

As 'Juridical captial of the world' and home to the International Court of Justice, The Hague is the city where offenders of genocide will likely stand trial for their crimes. Amsterdam is a capital with the same problems as every metropolis, and on top of that it is the city where Theo van Gogh was murdered. In its red light district it has a lot of women that have fallen victim to white slavers. On the two days in Amsterdam there are excursions planned to places related to our themes, such as local police, mosques and the municipality to see and hear how they handled the aftermath of Van Gogh's murder. The locations of the congress allow us to observe global events on both an international as well as on a local level.


Theme I: 'Genocide in Darfur'

Goal & Relevance
The goal of the theme 'genocide' is twofold. On the one hand the concept of 'genocide' is a troublesome political notion: the interests of international powers play a major part in recognizing the mass killing of a people as genocide. The two classic examples for this case are Kosovo -where the classification of genocide would justify intervention by the international community- and Rwanda, where the obvious case of genocide was denied for a long period of time to refute the necessity of intervening.

On the other hand, genocide is also a essentially contested concept, meaning that the definition of the term genocide leaves ample room for interpretation and debate. Certain conditions that are inherent on the term are extremely difficult to assess (i.e. due to lack of evidence or information), such as those established in the following UN resolution from 1948, article 2:

"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;


2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;


3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;


4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;


5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

We can conclude that determining whether there is a case of genocide is hindered by two things: uncertainty about the nature of the killing of people and the fact that decisions to classify a case as genocide are made by political actors with their own interests. It is our intention to show how difficult a case of genocide is to assess.

For this purpose one day of the conference will be dedicated to the question: "Was Darfur a case of genocide?". We have chosen Darfur because the scientific and political debate about the disputed genocide in this Sudanese province is still very much alive. It is an example from the recent past that adequately shows the unruliness of assessment of genocide.

Methodology
Various experts are invited for lectures in the morning. We intend to follow the following schedule:
1. a lecture as an introduction to the concept 'genocide'

The purpose of this introduction is to offer all participants the same shared definitions of concepts with which to better understand the later lectures and debates.

2. 'Darfur: why it is or is not a case of genocide'

The purpose of this lecture is the treatment of the 'scientific' debate over the disputed genocide in Darfur. Who has the opinion that is was a case of genocide and why? And what are the arguments of those that argue that it wasn't genocide? What are the problems one encounters when assessing a case? This lecture will likely be open-ended and its aim is to review arguments for and against the determining of genocide in the case of Darfur.

3. Politics and Darfur

The aim of this lecture is to give an overview of the political actors in the debate about Darfur. Who are they, what are their interests and why do they take certain views?

Workshops
After the morning programme, the group will be split up in subgroups to attend workshops. In these smaller groups of up to 20 people, the students will try to find answers to parts of the problem. These workshops will study the themes set out during the morning programme in greater depth. In total there will be 8 workshops with the following subjects:

Goal & Relevance
After the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, the image of the Dutch society as being tolerant and with all people from different ethnical backgrounds living peacefully together, was put under great stress. The murder of Van Gogh in particular has received a lot of international attention. This murder can be viewed in two possible ways: as an attack in a series of various forms of Islamic-fundamentalist violence, or as a visible example of the tragic of the Dutch 'multi-cultural drama'. The German sociologist Beck has pointed out in a lecture at the University of Amsterdam just after the murder that these two viewpoints are closely related. The troublesome integration of second and third generation migrants from Islamic countries such as Turkey and Morocco has made these youths susceptible to radicalisation. Social isolation and unemployment play a major part in this, while on the other hand some claim it is a 'clash of civilizations', being fought out in Iraq and Palestine. Amsterdam after Van Gogh's murder plays its part in this as a sort of laboratory for Europe, where the same problems are occurring.
The riots in France and Paris can be seen from the same point of view: as a result of social isolation as well as from the perspective of a 'clash of civilizations', as it was displayed in various American media.

On this day the theme will be 'the Amsterdam multicultural society', and we would like to offer our international guests the opportunity to gain insight in the events in the Netherlands before and after November 2nd 2005. What happened exactly and how can these events be explained from an international perspective, as part of international Islamic terrorism, and from a perspective of European relations: the troublesome integration of new minorities.

Methodology
In the morning there will be three lectures concerning the following issues.

1. Radicalism

The first lecture will concern radicalization. Under what circumstances do youths radicalize? What are specific characteristics of radicalization? And when does someone decide to turn to violence or acts of terrorism? This lecture can be seen as an introduction to the concept 'radicalization'.

2. The role of migrants in Western European societies.

The riots in Paris, the high level of unemployment amongst migrants in various Western European countries, the murder of Van Gogh in Amsterdam and the attacks on London: these are matters that give rise to questions about the position of migrants in Europe. How do Western European societies think about migrants and what is their social-economic position? What sort of part do these problems play in radicalization?

3. Events in the Netherlands

The second lecture will be dedicated to the events in the Netherlands, with special attention for the rise of Fortuyn and the murder of Van Gogh. There will also be the opportunity to deal with the question whether the murder of Van Gogh was a manifestation of terrorism and to what extent the Dutch society is at risk from terrorism.

During the afternoon the majority of the students will be in the city. We will visit -amongst other places- mosques, the municipality of Amsterdam and the local police force to see how the city of Amsterdam reacted to the murder of Theo van Gogh and how it is handling the problems of radicalization and the increasing tensions between groups within its population. The programme for the afternoon will partly be put together in deliberation with the lecturers from the morning programme.



Theme III: 'Human trafficking'

Goal & Relevance
The exact number of victims of human traffic is unknown. Estimates vary from 700,000 to 2,000,000 women and children (www.b9-regeling.info). Despite the fact that it has been a problem for many years, governments and international organisations have not succeeded in controlling it. On the contrary: the problems only seem to increase. Before the nineties it were mostly women from Asia and Latin-America being traded to the Netherlands. After the fall of the Iron Curtain it were mainly women being trafficked from Eastern to Western Europe. Central and Eastern European countries are currently the pivot of the international human traffic. Women from Asia and Latin-America are now also often being traded thru Eastern Europe to the West.
The main reasons for women-trafficking from these areas to the West are identical on a global scale: due to large economic discrepancies and lack of prospect in their own country make them prepared to leave for the West. In some cases they are being sold by their own families in dire circumstances. But there are also major differences between human traffic in Eastern Europe and Latin-America.

On this day we will approach human traffic from various perspectives. First of all, it is important to become familiar with the concept of human traffic. Who is behind it, how do they work, and how is it possible that so many women are being trafficked?
Secondly, we will study two cases of women trafficking: from Eastern to Western Europe and from South-America to the West. Both cases have their own economic and historic perspective. The rise of Eastern-European women traffic is mainly accountable to the fast-paced transition from a communist to a liberal economic and political model, for example.

In the afternoon and during the workshops, there will also be the reaction of a spokesperson for the Netherlands as a country to which women are being traded. In consideration are the role of the police-force and the responsible national representative. By showing a documentary there will also be attention for the personal story of women that have suffered this fate.
The goal is to gain insight in the concept of human traffic and focus on one of the dark sides of extreme globalisation.

Methodology
The programme in the morning will again exist of three lectures. The first lecture is an introduction to the concept of women traffic. The second lecture will focus specifically on traffic between Latin-America and the West, up until 1990 one of the busiest 'trade-routes'. It is our intention to have a look at both the (specific) problems of this trade route and the possible solutions that South-American states came up with to fight these problems.
The third lecture this morning will focus on the same issues, but for Eastern Europe.

The afternoon will be used for workshops and visits to the city. The programme will partly be put together in deliberation with the lecturers from the morning programme. The possibilities include: