New anti-genocide proposal agreed

Millions were killed in World War II death camps like Auschwitz

Delegates at an international summit on preventing genocide have vowed to stop any repetition of the mass killings seen in World War II.

They also committed themselves to identifying and using ways to monitor areas at risk to halt ethnic cleansing on the scale of the Holocaust.

The declaration by representatives from 50 nations follows three days of talks.

The meeting in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, discussed the 1948 United Nations resolution on genocide.

Responsibilities

The delegates said they would use new ways of monitoring to "prevent the recurrence of genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing".

The delegates also agreed to shoulder their responsibility "to protect groups identified as potential victims of genocide, drawing upon the range of tools at our disposal to prevent such atrocities."

They said they bore in mind the Holocaust engineered by Adolf Hitler in which millions of Jews were killed and other groups such as gypsies and homosexuals were also targeted for extermination.

Xanana Gusmao said it was vital to prosecute genocide cases

The representatives said they would also consider a proposal by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for the creation of a special rapporteur and a committee for the prevention of genocide.

Mr Annan told the conference that genocides in Yugoslavia and Rwanda could have been prevented if the world had taken action.

East Timor President Xanana Gusmao referred to events in his own country and called for those who perpetuate genocide to be brought to justice.

However the International Criminal Court, seen by some as a promising tool in the fight against genocide, was not mentioned in the final declaration.

Diplomatic sources at the conference said the reference to the court was left out after opposition from the United States and Israel.

Nonetheless, the declaration was hailed as the most powerful in condemning ethnic cleansing and mass killings since the 1948 UN resolution on genocide.