MISSION and HISTORY
Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada is a public scientific institution engaged in analysis of crimes against humanity, crime of genocide, and other grave breaches of international law from the historical, legal, sociological, criminology, economic, demographic, psychological, political, cultural, medical, environmental, and other aspects of relevance for the complete research of crimes.
The Institute was established on August 25, 2009, as a not-for-profit federal corporation. The corporation number is 453230-9 and the date of incorporation is August 25, 2009. The Institute is a member and section of the Institute for the Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law from Sarajevo.
The focus of the Institute is particularly on research of:
- planning, preparation, commencement, and conduct of the war of aggression and/or the war which violates international covenants, agreements, guarantees, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy in perpetration of one of the cited actions;
- violation of war laws and customs of war; murder, torture or taking civilians from the occupied territory or to the occupied territory to a forced labor and any other reason; killing or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or dying persons; killing of hostages; looting of public or private property; deliberate destruction of towns and villages or wanton plundering not justified by necessary military needs;
- genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes against civilians; war crimes against the injured or ill persons; war crimes against prisoner of war; organizing of groups to incite the commission of crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; unlawful killing and inflicting injuries of enemy soldiers; unlawful taking of belongings from the killed persons or those injured at the battlefield; use of unlawful combat means; inflicting injuries to the parliamentary; cruel treatment with the injured, sick and prisoners of war; unjustified delay of repatriation of prisoners of war; destruction of cultural and historical monuments; inciting to aggressor war; abuse of international signs; racial and other discrimination; enslavement and transport of enslaved persons; international terrorism; endangering of people under international protection; taking hostages, and other grave breaches of the rules of international law.
With this in mind, the Institute specially:
- defines the place and time of crime;
- defines the circumstances under which the crime was committed;
- defines categories, status and number of victims, forms of crimes and mode of commission of crime;
- tries, within the framework of its scientific capacities, to identify ideologists, organizers, inciters, aids and abettors, associates, order issuing authorities, and perpetrators;
- creates the records of destroyed or damaged cultural monuments, economic and other facilities and their approximate values of damage;
- collects, arranges and keeps the documentation on crimes;
- delivers the competent state authorities proposals with documentation for criminal prosecution; publicizes the study results along with the documentation, even in several languages, if needed.
The Institute particularly works on:
- conceptualization and preparation of scientific projects, serving as basis for the organization and execution of study of crimes against humanity and international law;
- permanent and continuous application of existing scientific methods and methods for collection of data during the research, and verifies its reliability in the process of acquiring knowledge, thus verifying its adequacy in relation to the subject of research, which clearly contributes to the function of development of methodology of studying crimes against humanity and international law;
- providing scientific and professional assistance to researchers in this field;
- establishing cooperation with the scientific and professional institutions in the country and abroad;
- publishing scientific papers;
- the organization of conferences, counseling, discussion, and lectures on some of the professional matters falling under the scope of work of the Institute and alike activities;
- participation at conferences, counseling, discussions, and lectures in the country and abroad;
- securing material resources for continued work, collection of data on crimes against humanity and international law, publishing, technical items and other needs of the Institute.
For the efficient implementation of researching and other supporting activities, the Institute organized following units:
- for scientific and researching activity;
- for collection of facts and empirical records on crimes;
- for documentation and analysis (archive, data processing, library, publishing);
- for administrative, legal and financial tasks.
The Institute has a status of a legal person.
The Institute may organize its units as Centers in other places in the territory of Canada.
The records, available to the Institute, are also available to the public under the Rules of the Institute.
State authorities, institutions, companies, and other legal persons and citizens shall provide the Institute with information and records of interest for the Institute, upon a request by the Institute.
The Institute cooperates with legal and natural persons in Canada and abroad.
The management bodies, as well as professional bodies in the Institute are: Management Board, Director, and Expert Team.
Basic general act of the Institute are the Rules for Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada.
