Objectives
Our main goal is to continue the new series of annual conferences titled CODE, a common initiative of the ICDT and the Tom Lantos Institute dealing with the most important issues of democracy and human rights. The current event is the ICDT's 6th annual conference, and the second one under this title. In the framework of the Wallenberg Year, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, the Raoul Wallenberg Association and the Holocaust Memorial Center, the CODE 2012 aims to commemorate Raoul Wallenberg.

Background
The first CODE was held in Budapest in June 2011. It coincided with the ceremonial opening of the Tom Lantos Institute that was attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The conference was a great success with such high level speakers as the Foreign Ministers of Moldova and Georgia respectively, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The agenda covered topics like the Arab Spring, political developments in the Eastern Partnership countries of the EU or the situation of Romani people in Europe.

Raoul Wallenberg is a symbolic figure of rescuers in Hungary and in Europe at the time. “Man amidst inhumanity” in the horrors of the Holocaust. Hungary highly values and treasures the memory of the martyr Swedish diplomat. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, the Government of Hungary has decided to declare the year 2012 as Wallenberg Year and to found a Commemorative Committee. Our purpose was to bow before his human greatness, and also to commemorate all those who saved lives jointly with him or similarly to him, amidst the inhumanity of oppressive regimes. This anniversary is a good occasion to draw lessons from the past, and to review, in their light, current human rights and minority issues, and to address the future and the young generations.

Project Description
This year’s conference will partly be devoted to the centenary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II. Besides lectures devoted to Raoul Wallenberg, there would be sessions covering current issues, like the human rights situation in the neighborhood of Europe with a special focus on the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe, prejudices and conflict prevention and the different aspects of handling diversity in an increasingly diverse and multicultural world.