A European study experience
The institutions participating in this European Master (Kingston University, University of Siena, Viadrina European University Frankfurt (Oder), Collegium Civitas, Warsaw and Uppsala University) have been co-operating for some time on projects and activities related to Human Rights and Genocide.
In 2005-2006 they organised a successful series of conferences on 'Crimes against the Humanity' sponsored by the EU. IN 2006, they organised (with the Wiener Library), a conference on teaching and researching the politics of mass murder). Since 2002 Kingston and Siena have been running student and staff exchanges between their Master in human rights.
As a recognition of the strength of these institutions' co-operation and their expertise in the field of human rights and genocide, in 2006 the EU awarded this consortium a Socrates grant for the creation of a joint European postgraduate programme in the area of human rights and genocide studies. This led to the launch of the MA in Human Rights and Genocide Studies (Joint European Postgraduate Programme), a unique study programme, the first of its kind in Europe, which is meant to provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge to work effectively and successfully in the field of human rights and genocide prevention.
As Frank Chalk (President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars from 1999 to 2001) put it: 'Genocide has a past; it has a present; if this programme in Europe is successful, it will have no future'.