P5 (working title)

This film will expose the role of the permanent 5 members on the UN security council in enabling genocide to take place.

Presenter – Robert Beckford
Consultant – Linda Melvern

‘P5’ will be an exposé of the secret decision-making in the UN Security Council that led to one of the greatest human rights disasters of our age – the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It will show how the Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council (France, UK, US, China and Russia) took the decision to abandon Rwanda once the genocide began — with the UK taking a leading role in that decision. The failure to prevent genocide occurring in the face of overwhelming evidence that it was likely to occur and the subsequent failure to stop its progress country-wide is an international scandal – with the consequences still with us today in the DRC and Darfur.

The film will be based on the acclaimed and ground-breaking work of Linda Melvern (A People Betrayed, Conspiracy to Murder, The Ultimate Crime)

The Team

Linda Melvern is an investigative journalist and author – she was part of the highly successful Sunday Times Insight team under Harry Evans and also worked for the London Evening Standard.  An Honorary Professor in the Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, more recently  she was a consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where part of her archive of documents was used to show the planning and progress of the 1994 genocide.

Dr Robert Beckford is an educator, author and award-winning broadcaster. An educator for most of his life, he is the author of five academic texts in the field of religion, culture and politics. A firm believer in teaching for social change, he has retained a commitment to teaching outside of traditional contexts, including community groups, care homes and male prisons. As a broadcaster he is  one of the most prolific black documentary presenters in Britain – his credits include God is Black (2004), Empire Pays Back (2005), The Secret Family of Jesus (2006), The Great Africa Scandal (2007), The Secrets of the 12 Disciples (2008) Decoding the Nativity (2008)and The Dark Ages and the emergence of an English Inclusivity (2009).  Revealing the underlying story ot any text or subject is what Robert Beckford is reputed for and this film will be very much in that spirit.