Portugal Calls for Vigilance on the International Day of the Victims of Genocide
At the UN General Assembly’s high-level meeting marking the 10th anniversary of the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of Genocide, Portugal issued a strong call for renewed global resolve in preventing the world’s most serious atrocity.
Portugal stressed that genocide is not a crime of the past, noting that warning signs—hate speech, dehumanization, and targeted persecution—continue to emerge today. Prevention, it emphasized, lies at the heart of the Genocide Convention and requires early-warning mechanisms, education, protection of minorities, and timely, decisive action. Above all, it demands political will and the courage to act before atrocities unfold.
In its statement, Portugal praised the United Nations for strengthening its early-warning and peacebuilding efforts and urged all Member States to cooperate fully with the Secretary-General, the Office on Genocide Prevention, and fact-finding missions, while ensuring access for humanitarian actors.
Portugal also highlighted accountability as essential both for justice and deterrence, reaffirming its support for international and domestic courts—especially the International Criminal Court—in ensuring that the crime of genocide does not go unpunished.
At the UN’s 80th anniversary, Portugal called on the international community to reject any attempt at justification for genocide and to remain vigilant against the destruction of national, ethnic, racial, or religious groups anywhere in the world.
