These calculated exterminations of ethnic, racial, and religious groups have taken the lives of Hereros, Armenians, Jews, Sinti and Roma, Cambodians, Kurds, Bosnians, Tutsis, and many others. The twenty-first century promises to be no different. Today, the effects of genocide have scarred Darfur, Sudan, where government forces killed hundreds of thousands of people since early 2003. Time and again, the international community has stood by and done nothing to protect defenseless people.

However, this trend of mass killing is not inevitable because genocide is both predictable and preventable. While governments with the power to stop genocide and save lives have stood by and done nothing in the past, civil society – ordinary people and non-governmental organizations – can still make a difference. Since genocide can be prevented by acting before it begins, the Sentinel Project is working to make this early action possible through the creation of an early warning system and cooperation with threatened communities and other anti-genocide organizations.