lifetimes, and indeed, some are ongoing today. In many cases this slaughter has been perpetrated on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion, singling out minority communities on the basis of their supposed differences, or perceived historical grievances, many of them ancient and highly questionable. None of these atrocities crimes were unleashed without warning. They built up over years — and sometimes decades — of human rights grievances. Among them we must count deficient or corrupt governance and judicial institutions; discrimination and exclusion of minorities; inequities in development; exploitation and denial of economic and social rights; and repression of civil society and public freedoms.