Dr. Gerald Caplan

Gerald Caplan has  an MA in Canadian history and a Ph.D. in African history from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He is an author, teacher, media commentator, and social and political activist with a lifelong commitment to African development.

For the past 15 years, Dr. Caplan has been preoccupied with genocide and genocide prevention, particularly the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, about which he has frequently written and which he regularly visits.  He was the author of the report Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide (2000) issued by the International Panel of Eminent Personalities appointed by the Organization of African Unity to investigate the genocide. Beside being the founder of Remembering Rwanda for the 10^th anniversary of the genocide, he has lectured in many countries and written about Darfur, genocide denial, post-conflict justice, Hotel Rwanda, the international community and genocide, and the lessons learned from Rwanda, among other topics. He has spoken at several genocide commemorations in Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa, Europe and North America.

A former academic, he has been a consultant on African development issues to many United Nations agencies as well as to the African Union. His latest book is called The Betrayal of Africa. He writes a weekly online column for the Globe and Mail and appears weekly on CBC’s Power and Politics as a political analyst.