The international conference on “International Legal Issues on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide and Liability” continued with a session devoted to “The International Legal Issues on Ensuring the Inevitability of Liability for Genocides”. The session was moderated by Dean of the Faculty of Law at Yerevan State University, Doctor of Law, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) Gagik Ghazinyan and Chair of the Department of Modern Armenian History and Literature at the University of Boston, genocide expert Simon Payaslian.

The first session included speeches by Director of the Institute of History of the NAS RA Ashot Melkonyan (“The Need for a Legal Formulation of the Concept of “Deprivation of Homeland””); President of the Association of Law Universities of Russia, main researcher of the Institute for Social-Political Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Law, Professor Sergey Baburin (“International Legal Measures for Combating Genocide as a Xenophobic Policy Tool”-dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide) and lawyer, Government Affairs Director for the Armenian National Committee of America Kate Nahapetian (“International Legal Issues for Ensuring the Inevitability of Liability for Genocides”).

The second session of the conference was devoted to “The Ensuring of the Prevention of Genocides in Contemporary International Law”.

The session was moderated by Professor Sergey Baburin and international law expert, President of the National Congress of Western Armenians Suren Seraydarian (Austria).

The second session included speeches by Vice-President of the Russian Association of International Law Alexey Moiseev (“The Genocide in International Law”); Chair of the Department of Modern Armenian History and Literature at the University of Boston Simon Payaslian (“Principle of Sovereignty and the Challenges for the Prevention of Genocide in the 21^st Century”); Associate Professor of the Department of European and International Law of the Faculty of Law at Yerevan State University Yeghishe Kirakosyan (“Features of Liability of States for Genocides Committed Prior to the 1948 Convention on the Crime of Genocide”).

The speeches were followed by exchange of ideas that led to the start of an interesting discussion on the creation of new international structures and conventions for the prevention of genocides, the liability of countries for genocides, the need for the creation of mechanisms ensuring the enforcement of legal provisions of the existing conventions and other issues.

The conference will continue on April 23.