On 27 September 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania hosted an event to mark the official launch of the Romanian National Expert Network on Genocide Prevention and Multidisciplinary Research on Mass Graves.
The network aims to centralise and enhance the knowledge of Romanian experts from the Prosecution Office, criminal investigators, police, as well as experts from the fields of forensics, criminology, pathology, anthropology, and history by providing a platform for the exchange of expertise. It also aims to function as a resource that can be utilized at an international level in the efforts to combat genocide and mass atrocities.
The project is a result of lessons learned during the Romanian Chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and was founded as a cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Public Ministry and the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, a US-based think-tank.
The opening event was followed by a two-day training on the multidisciplinary research on mass graves hosted by the Romanian Diplomatic Institute in Bucharest, which was attended by 16 representatives of Romanian institutions (mostly prosecutor’s offices). Longstanding members of the Romanian Delegation to the IHRA, such as Adrian Cioflanca, the Director of the Centre for the Study of Jewish History in Romania and Elisabeth Ungureanu from the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Research of the Holocaust in Romania, attended the event and represented their respective institutions in the network. Follow-up seminars are envisaged for November 2018 and the second half of 2019 in various locations in Romania.
