Genocide

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Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) article 2 as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: "Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." The most widely known example of genocide is the Holocaust (the genocide of Jews and various other groups during World War II by Third Reich and its collaborators).

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1 Coining of the term genocide
2 Genocide as a crime under international law
- 2.1 Prosecution of genocide
3 Criticisms of then CPPCG and other definitions
4 Genocide in history
5 Stages of genocide and efforts to prevent it
6 See also
7 Bibliography
8 Notes
9 External links

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Coining of the term genocide

The term "genocide" was coined by Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959), a Polish Jewish legal scholar, in 1943, from the roots genos (Greek for family, tribe or race) and -cide (Latin - occidere, to massacre).

Lemkin said about the definition of genocide in its original adoption for international law at the Geneva Conventions:

Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.^[1]

Lemkin's original genocide definition was narrow, as it addressed only crimes against "national groups" rather than "groups" in general. Interestingly, it was broad at the same time as it included not only physical genocide, but also acts aimed at destroying the culture and livelihood of the group.

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Genocide as a crime under international law

In the wake of the Nazi perpetrated Holocaust, Lemkin successfully campaigned for the universal acceptance of international laws, defining and forbidding genocide. This was achieved in 1948, with the promulgation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The CPPCG was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and came into effect on 12 January 1951 (Resolution 260 (III)). It contains an internationally-recognized definition of genocide which was incorporated into the national criminal legislation of many countries, and was also adopted by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Convention (in article 2) defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:"

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The first draft of the Convention included political killings but the USSR did not accept that actions against groups identified as holding similar political opinion or social status, that would constitute genocide if carried out against an ethnic group, was genocide. So they were removed in a political and diplomatic compromise.

After the minimum 20 countries became parties to the Convention, it came into force as international law on 12 January 1951. At that time however, only two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) were parties to the treaty: France and the Republic of China. Eventually the Soviet Union ratified in 1954, the United Kingdom in 1970, the People's Republic of China in 1983 (having replaced the Taiwan-based Republic of China on the UNSC in 1971), and the United States in 1988. This long delay in support for the Genocide Convention by the world's most powerful nations caused the Convention to languish for over four decades. Only in the 1990s did the international law on the crime of genocide begin to be enforced.

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Prosecution of genocide

All signatories to the above-mentioned convention are required to prevent and punish acts of genocide, both in peace and wartime, though some barriers make this enforcement difficult. In particular, some of the signatories — namely, Bahrain, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, the United States, Vietnam, Yemen, and Yugoslavia — signed with the proviso that no claim of genocide could be brought against them at the International Court of Justice without their consent^[2]. Despite official protests from other signatories (notably Cyprus and Norway) on the ethics and legal standing of these reservations, the immunity from prosecution they grant has been invoked from time to time, as when the United States refused to allow a charge of genocide brought against it by Yugoslavia following the 1999 Kosovo War.

It is commonly accepted that, at least since World War II, genocide has been illegal under customary international law as a peremptory norm, as well as under conventional international law. Acts of genocide are generally difficult to establish, for prosecution, since intent, demonstrating a chain of accountability, has to be established. Due to its gravity, genocide can be prosecuted by any state at any time under its universal jurisdiction. International criminal courts and tribunals function primarily because the states involved are incapable or unwilling to prosecute crimes of this magnitude themselves.

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Nuremburg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in World War II and the Holocaust. The trials were held in the German city of Nuremberg from 1945 to 1949 at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice . The first and more famous of these trials was the Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal or IMT, which tried 24 of the most important captured (or still believed to be alive) leaders of Nazi Germany. It was held from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946.

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Former Yugoslavia

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is a court under the auspices of the United Nations for the prosecution of genocide and certain other types of crime committed in former former Yugoslavia since 1991. The tribunal functions as an ad-hoc court and is located in The Hague. It was established by Resolution 827 of the UN Security Council, which was passed on May 25, 1993.

Some of those found guilty of Genocide or crimes against humanity are:

Milan Babic, Krajina Serb, prime minister of Republika Srpska Krajina; sentenced to thirteen years for his part in ethnic cleansing.
Vidoje Blagojevic, Bosnian Serb, a Bosnian Serb Army officer, sentenced to 18 years for involvement in the Srebrenica massacre.
Dragan Jokic, Bosnian Serb, sentenced to 9 years for involvement in Srebrenica massacre.
Radislav Krstic, Bosnian Serb, Bosnian Serb Army general; sentenced to thirty-five years (originally forty-six years) for genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war.

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Rwanda

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is a court under the auspices of the United Nations for the prosecution of offenses committed in Rwanda during the genocide which occurred there during April, 1994, commencing on April 6. The ICTR was created on November 8, 1994 by the Security Council of the United Nations in order to judge those people responsible for the acts of genocide and other serious violations of the international law performed in the territory of Rwanda, or by Rwandan citizens in nearby states, between January 1 and December 31, 1994.

So far, the ICTR has finished nineteen trials and convicted twenty five accused persons. Another twenty five persons are still on trial. Nineteen are awaiting trial in detention. Ten are still at large. The first trial, of Jean-Michel Akayesu, began in 1997. Jean Kambanda, interim Prime Minister, plead guilty.^[3]

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Criticisms of then CPPCG and other definitions

Much debate about genocide revolves around the proper definition of the word "genocide". The exclusion of social and political groups as targets of genocide in this legal definition has been criticized. Some historians and sociologists when discussing genocide include actions against such groups. Most generally, genocide is the deliberate destruction of a social identity.

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Genocide in history

Main article: Genocides in history

Genocide appears to be a regular and widespread feature of the history of civilization. The phrase "never again" often used in relation to genocide has been contradicted up to the present day.

Determining which historical events constitute genocide and which are merely criminal or inhuman behavior is not a clear-cut matter. Furthermore, in nearly every case where accusations of genocide have circulated, partisans of various sides have fiercely disputed the interpretation and details of the event, often to the point of promoting wildly different versions of the facts. An accusation of genocide is certainly not taken lightly and will almost always be controversial.

In the past century, more or less systematic sprees of deliberate large-scale killings of entire groups of people have occurred in what is now the countries of Turkey, Namibia, Congo, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, China, Cambodia, Rwanda and Sudan.

In a wider historical perspective, genocide, has been common throughout history, the annihilation of entire peoples, such as the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and Patagonia, by Europeans, either directly or indirectly by making survival or procreation impossible, is usually considered to be genocide.

Genocide against Aboriginal peoples of Canada (during the conquest of "turtle island" or the North American continent) has received international attention from reputable human rights organizations associated with aboriginal rights. Principle testimonials from thousands of Aboriginal Canadians compiled by former United Church Reverend Kevin Annett and his Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada has gained considerable merit to this revisionist, Genocide in Canada revelation^[4].

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Stages of genocide and efforts to prevent it

According to President of Genocide Watch Gregory Stanton, genocide develops in eight stages that are "predictable but not inexorable":

Stage	Characteristics	Preventive measures
1. Classification	People are divided into "us and them".	"The main preventive measure at this early stage is to develop universalistic institutions that transcend... divisions."
2. Symbolization	"When combined with hatred, symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of pariah groups..."	"To combat symbolization, hate symbols can be legally forbidden… as can hate speech".
3. Dehumanization	"Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion against murder."	"Hate propaganda should be banned, hate crimes and atrocities should be promptly punished."
4. Organization	"Genocide is always organized... Special army units or militias are often trained and armed..."	"To combat this stage, membership in these militias should be outlawed."
5. Polarization	"Hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda..."	"Prevention may mean security protection for moderate leaders or assistance to human rights groups..."
6. Identification	"Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity..."	"At this stage, a Genocide Alert must be called..."
7. Extermination	"It is "extermination" to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human."	"At this stage, only rapid and overwhelming armed intervention can stop genocide. Real safe areas or refugee escape corridors should be established with heavily armed international protection."
8. Denial	"The perpetrators... deny that they committed any crimes..."	"The response to denial is punishment by an international tribunal or national courts."

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Bibliography

Harvard University Press 1999, 858 pages. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression by Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek, Jean-Louis Margolin, Mark Kramer (Translator), Jonathan Murphy (Translator) ISBN 0674076087
Elizabeth Becker, When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, Public Affairs, 1986, 1998, paperback, 519 pages, ISBN 1891620002
Barbara Harff, Early Warning of Communal Conflict and Genocide: Linking Empirical Research to International Responses, Westview Press, August 2003, paperback, 256 pages, ISBN 0813398401
Ben Kiernan, Ed., Genocide and Democracy in Cambodia: The Khmer Rouge, the U.N., and the International Community, 335 pp. (1993). ISBN 0938692496
Samantha Power, "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide, Basic Books, 640 pages, ISBN 0465061508 (hardcover, 2002), ISBN 0060541644 (paperback, 2003), 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction
Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons, and Israel W. Charny, eds, Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts, Second Edition, Routledge Press, 507 pages, ISBN 0415944295 (hardcover, 2004), ISBN 0415944309 (paperback, 2004)
R.J. Rummel, Death By Government, Transaction Publishers, 496 pages, ISBN 1560009276 (March 1997)
Israel W. Charny, Encyclopedia of Genocide, ABC-Clio Inc, 720 pages, ISBN 0874369282 (December 1, 1999)
Lyal S. Sunga, The Emerging System of International Criminal Law: Developments in Codification and Implementation , Kluwer (1997) 508 p. (ISBN: 9041104720)
Lyal S. Sunga, Individual Responsibility in International Law for Serious Human Rights Violations, Nijhoff (1992) 252 p. (ISBN: 0792314530)