Teaching about genocide and mass atrocities: an entry point to peace education

In the framework of its activities relating to education about the Holocaust and other genocides, UNESCO partners with the National Commission of Senegal to UNESCO to organize a training seminar for high-level civil servants of ministries of education of Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Mali, Niger and Senegal.

Education has a vital to play to build a resilience to violence and to contribute to a culture of peace based on mutual respect and human rights. It is why UNESCO supports education about the history of past genocides as a means to raise awareness about the causes, dynamics and consequences of atrocity crimes.
The seminar will therefore be above all an opportunity for the participants to familiarize themselves with the concept and history of genocide, in particular the genocide of the Jewish people during the Second World War and that of the Tusti in Rwanda in 1994. They will analyze pedagogies and policies relating to this history, and identify possible way to introduce or reinforce the position of the subject in education in a way that is relevant to their national contexts. The seminar will also be an opportunity to deal with the prevention of racism and antisemitism through education and to review UNESCO's materials relating to the prevention of violent extremism.

Will participate in the seminar historians and educators from Belgium, Côte d'Ivoire, France, Germany, Senegal and South Africa.

The event is organized in partnership with the Shoah Memorial, the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, with the support of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah.