Conference in Mechelen, Belgium I 20-22 September 2016

Kazerne Dossin, International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the Belgian Federal Police, KZ Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg and the Council of Europe announce the ‘Connecting Law and Memory’ conference in Mechelen on 20-22 September 2016. This conference will focus on training courses in human rights for law enforcement and civil servants – based on Holocaust and genocide studies – with an emphasis on bringing together both civil servants (especially law enforcement) and museums & memorials from all over Europe.

The overall aim of the conference is to create a coordinating forum and network for sharing and benchmarking expertise, intending to strengthen the civil service resilience through discussion, reflection and dilemma training. This will offer tools and attitudes to prevent and resist racist, xenophobic, homophobic behavior or other forms of intolerance – frequently aggravated by peer pressure and/or group loyalty – within law enforcement and other civil service institutions.

The goal of the conference is to connect, link, share and benchmark of existing outreach programs, good practices and experiences. Also to show the power of these programs to institutions that could be used to reflect upon history in their present day context.

An important aspect will also reflect on the circumstances to initiate and develop these programs, which needs to create a structural network or platform for existing and interested partners in order to stimulate exchange programs between institutions and organizations.

For more info and registration, visit the conference website.