Speech upon the award of the scholarly excellence award on the occasion of the annual banquet of the Armenian National Committee of America in Los Angeles

9 November 2003

Human rights are the God-given heritage of all mankind.

Universal human rights comprise the right to life, to identity, to culture, to one's homeland and religion. These rights are fundamental, and should be strengthened by the right to liberty, due process of law, and above all by the right to equality.

This overarching principle of equality rests on the shared human dignity of all members of the human family. Equality entails non-discrimination now, and non-discrimination in the treatment of history. There must not be preferred victims, and politically correct or politically incorrect victims.

All victims of injustice are equal in their human dignity. All victims
are entitled to recognition and compassion.

Today I had the opportunity of visiting the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.  Allow me to share my first impressions: Yes, it has great potential to inform and to educate. But it needs to expand its horizons. It should be perceived as multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, since genocide is a worldwide phenomenon. I am persuaded that the Museum could do a better job of addressing the plight of the unsung victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing, including the Armenians, the Greeks, the Cypriots, the Ukrainians, the 15 million German women and children expelled from their 700-year homelands in East Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, Bohemia, etc. in the wake of the second world war, a brutal process in the course of which more than two million died. The Museum should endeavour to make us understand the root causes of ethnic hate and intolerance. The museum's vocation is education.

And when I speak of education, I am aware of many media. Obviously the study of the genocide against the Armenians belongs in the school curricula. But there are many other avenues to disseminate knowledge about it. Atom Egoyan's "Ararat" constitutes a distinguished achievement. Now is the time to make a movie based on Peter Balakian's "The Burning Tigris".

And coming back to the rights and claims of the Armenians, it is important to know that their rights in domestic and international law arose in 1915.  These rights were to be vindicated by virtue of several provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres, which clearly reflected the consensus of world opinion that, as the French and the British noted, a "crime against humanity" had been committed by the Ottoman Turks.

The Genocide Convention of 1948 also applies to the Armenians, but their rights did not originate in the Convention. Rather, the Convention strengthened those pre-existing rights.

In your search for truth and justice, I ask you not to be led astray by red herrings and by falsely framed questions. In 22 years with the United Nations I have witnessed my share of political manoeuvres to sidetrack resolutions, to distract attention from the issues, to hide the ulterior motives of the players. There is no market for intellectual honesty in political matters.  The name of the game is to win.

I have studied the report of the International Center for Transitional Justice and observed the evolution of the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission. Of course, everyone wants reconciliation. But reconciliation must be based on truth and its aim should be justice. I am reminded of Vergilius' wise observation "latet anguis in herba" - a snake lurks in the grass ! (Eclogue, iii. 93)

I should also like to remind you that law, whether domestic or international, is not mathematics. You may have the norms going for you, but enforcement is another matter.

Only your perseverance will make law and justice prevail.

I bow my head in respect before all victims of injustice. I bow my head especially before the victims of the Armenian genocide, the first megacrime of the twentieth century.

I salute your courage. I honour your integrity. I wish you justice - now and in the future.

Professor Dr.iur. et phil. Alfred de Zayas