Migrants and refugees are people who are especially at risk of experiencing identity-based violence.

When more than 1 million Venezuelan refugees entered Colombia starting in 2015, for example, many risk factors were present. One risk factor is when a group has unequal access to basic resources and services.

The Colombian government saw this as a risk factor and responded. It introduced a new policy in February 2021 that gave temporary legal status to all refugees. This gave them access to public services, education and health care, immediately lowering the risk for large-scale violence in Colombia.

Every country in the world features some risk factors associated with genocide, including the United States.

But not every country in the world has the same level of risk.

In recent years, many countries have recognized the need to assess their own genocide risk factors. Some have fashioned specific government initiatives focused on genocide prevention. This work spans government departments and ministries to make sure governments keep genocide prevention in focus. Argentina, Mexico, Tanzania and Uganda are among the countries to undertake this kind of work.

The United States also has a national strategy focused on genocide prevention, though it does not look inward at this point – it is only concerned with atrocity prevention in other countries.

There are also several nongovernmental organizations that assist governments in prevention work, including the institute where I work.

There could be temptation to think that when mass killing stops, the work of prevention is finished. But one of the biggest genocide risk factors is if a society has already been involved with one. For example, the Holocaust happened only a couple decades after Germany perpetrated the genocide of Herero and Nama people in present-day Namibia.

For this reason, the work of prevention continues, even after a genocide is over.

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