Genocide

A crime without a name…

“The aggressor ... retaliates by the most frightful cruelties. As his
Armies advance, whole districts are being exterminated. Scores of
thousands - literally scores of thousands - of executions in cold blood
are being perpetrated by the German Police-troops upon the Russian
patriots who defend their native soil. Since the Mongol invasions of
Europe in the Sixteenth Century, there has never been methodical,
merciless butchery on such a scale, or approaching such a scale.

“And this is but the beginning. Famine and pestilence have yet to
follow in the bloody ruts of Hitler's tanks.

“We are in the presence of a crime without a name.”

- Winston Churchill describing the brutality of the German

forces occupying Russia, 1941.
 Genocide
geno – meaning race
cide – meaning killing

The word genocide was coined in the

midst of the Holocaust.
 The 1948 U.N. Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide (Genocide
Convention) defined genocide as

Acts committed with intent to destroy, in

whole or in part, a national, ethnic,
racial, or religious group
 Prosecutor v. Kayishema and
Ruzindana, Case No. ICTR-95-1-
T (Trial Chamber), May 21, 1999,
para. 88: “[T]he crime of genocide
is considered part of international
customary law and, moreover, a
norm of jus cogens.”
 Article II of the Genocide Convention defines genocide as any
acts committed with the 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.
 Article II gives a definition that clearly
differentiates genocide from ‘simple’ mass
murder. Genocide is something more than
that. For instance, mass murder generally
requires the commission of violent acts
causing the death of a substantial number of
individuals. Conversely, the requirements of
genocide can be met even if the incriminated
conduct does not involve a lethal act.

General Elements: Intent,Group,
Conduct
 1) Intent

 (Kayishema and Ruzindana, (Trial Chamber), May 21, 1999,

para. 91: “[T]he mens rea must be formed prior to the
commission of the genocidal acts.”)
2) Group
 (Bagilishema, (Trial Chamber), June 7, 2001, para. 64: The Chamber
agreed “with the statement of the International Law Commission, that
‘the intention must be to destroy the group as such, meaning as a
separate and distinct entity, and not merely some individuals because
of their membership in particular group.’ Although the destruction
sought need not be directed at every member of the targeted group, the
Chamber considers that the intention to destroy must target at least a
substantial part of the group.)
 Akayesu, (Trial Chamber), September 2, 1998, para. 511, 516, 701-
702: The Chamber relied on the travaux preparatoires of the Genocide
Convention, which indicate that “the crime of genocide was allegedly
perceived as targeting only ‘stable’ groups, constituted in a permanent
fashion
 national group

 Akayesu, (Trial Chamber), September 2,

1998, para. 512: “[A] national group is defined
as a collection of people who are perceived to
share a legal bond based on common
citizenship, coupled with reciprocity of rights
and duties.”
Ethnical/Ethnic group

Akayesu, (Trial Chamber), September 2, 1998, para. 513:

“An ethnic group is generally defined as a group whose
members share a common language or culture.”

Kayishema and Ruzindana, (Trial Chamber), May 21, 1999,

para. 98: “An ethnic group is one whose members share a
common language and culture; or, a group which
distinguishes itself, as such (self identification); or, a group
identified as such by others, including perpetrators of the
crimes (identification by others).”
Racial Group
 Akayesu, (Trial Chamber), September 2,
1998, para. 514: “The conventional definition
of racial group is based on the hereditary
physical traits often identified with a
geographical region, irrespective of linguistic,
cultural, national or religious factors.”
 Kayishema and Ruzindana, (Trial Chamber),
May 21, 1999, para. 98: “A racial group is
based on hereditary physical traits often
identified with geography.”
religious group

 Akayesu, (Trial Chamber), September 2,

1998, para. 515: “The religious group is one
whose members share the same religion,
denomination or mode of worship.”
 Kayishema and Ruzindana, (Trial Chamber),
May 21, 1999, para. 98: “A religious group
includes denomination or mode of worship or
a group sharing common beliefs.”
 Mistreatment of persons not enumerated
under the definition of group will not be
considered as genocide.
Conduct
 (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.
Article 6 (a)- Genocide by
killing
 Elements
 1. The perpetrator killed one or more persons.
 2. Such person or persons belonged to a particular national,
ethnical, racial or religious group.
 3. The perpetrator intended to destroy, in whole or in part,
that national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.
 4. The conduct took place in the context of a manifest
pattern of similar conduct directed against that group or was
conduct that could itself effect such destruction.
Article 6 (b)-Genocide by causing
serious bodily or mental harm

 Elements
 1. The perpetrator caused serious bodily or mental harm to
one or more persons.
 2. Such person or persons belonged to a particular national,
ethnical, racial or religious group.
 3. The perpetrator intended to destroy, in whole or in part,
that national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.
 4. The conduct took place in the context of a manifest
pattern of similar conduct directed against that group or was
conduct that could itself effect such destruction.
Article 6 (c)-Genocide by deliberately inflicting conditions
of life calculated to bring about physical destruction

 Elements
 1. The perpetrator inflicted certain conditions of life upon
one or more persons.
 2. Such person or persons belonged to a particular national,
ethnical, racial or religious group.
 3. The perpetrator intended to destroy, in whole or in part,
that national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.
 4. The conditions of life were calculated to bring about the
physical destruction of that group, in whole or in part.[4]
 5. The conduct took place in the context of a manifest
pattern of similar conduct directed against that group or was
conduct that could itself effect such destruction.
Article 6 (d)-Genocide by imposing measures intended to prevent
births

 Elements
 1. The perpetrator imposed certain measures upon one or
more persons.
 2. Such person or persons belonged to a particular national,
ethnical, racial or religious group.
 3. The perpetrator intended to destroy, in whole or in part,
that national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.
 4. The measures imposed were intended to prevent births
within that group.
 5. The conduct took place in the context of a manifest
pattern of similar conduct directed against that group or was
conduct that could itself effect such destruction.
Article 6 (e)-Genocide by forcibly
transferring children
 Elements
 1. The perpetrator forcibly transferred one or more persons.
 2. Such person or persons belonged to a particular national,
ethnical, racial or religious group.
 3. The perpetrator intended to destroy, in whole or in part,
that national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.
 4. The transfer was from that group to another group.
 5. The person or persons were under the age of 18 years.
 6. The perpetrator knew, or should have known, that the
person or persons were under the age of 18 years.
 7. The conduct took place in the context of a manifest
pattern of similar conduct directed against that group or was
conduct that could itself effect such destruction.
 20th Century Genocides

With the definition of genocide in mind,

try to list as many 20th century genocides
as you can
 Major genocides of the 20th century
 The Herero Genocide, Namibia, 1904-05
Death toll: 60,000 (3/4 of the population)
 The Armenian Genocide, Ottoman
Empire, 1915-23
Death toll: Up to 1.5 million
 The Ukrainian Famine, 1932-1933
Death toll: 7 million
 The Nanking Massacre, 1937-1938
Death toll: 300,000 (50% of the pop)
 The World War II Holocaust, Europe,
1942-45
Death toll: 6 million Jews, and millions of
others, including Poles, Roma,
homosexuals, and the physically and
mentally handicapped,
 The Cambodian Genocide, 1975-79
Death toll: 2 million
 The East Timor Genocide, 1975- 1999
Death toll: 120,000 (20% of the
population)
 The Mayan Genocide, Guatemala,
1981-83
Death toll: Tens of thousands
 Iraq, 1988
Death toll: 50-100,000
 The Bosnian Genocide, 1991-1995
Death toll: 8,000
 The Rwandan Genocide, 1994
Death toll: 800,000
 The Darfur Genocide, Sudan ,
2003-present
Death toll: debated. 100,000? 300,000?
500,000?
 Namibia, 1904-1905
 Under German colonial rule, German
Southwest Africa is modern day Namibia.

 German Lieutenant-General Lothar von

Trotha said, 'I wipe out rebellious tribes
with streams of blood and streams of
money. Only following this cleansing can
something new emerge'.

 On October 2, 1904, von Trotha issued his

order to exterminate the Herero from the
region. 'All the Herero must leave the land.
If they refuse, then I will force them to do it
with the big guns. Any Herero found within
German borders, with or without a gun, will
be shot. No prisoners will be taken. This is
my decision for the Herero people'.
 The Armenian Genocide, 1915
The documentary, The Armenian
Genocide aired on PBS in April, 2006.
U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau Sr.,
concluded a “race murder” was occurring. He cabled
Washington and described the Turkish campaign:
”Persecution of Armenians assuming
unprecedented proportions. Reports from widely
scattered districts indicate systematic attempt
to uproot peaceful Armenian populations and
through arbitrary arrests, terrible tortures,
whose-sale expulsions and deportations from one
end of the Empire to the other accompanied by
frequent instances of rape, pillage, and murder
turning into massacre, to bring destruction and
destitution on them.
These measures are not in response to popular or
fanatical demand but are purely arbitrary and
directed from Constantinople in the name of
military necessity, often in districts where no
military operations are likely to take
place…there seems to be a systematic plan to
crush the Armenian race.”
 The Armenian Controversy

To this day, the Turks deny that the Genocide occurred.

This is a VERY controversial issue to the Turks.

Turkey suspended its military ties with France in 2006 after the
French parliament's lower house adopted a bill that that would
have made it a crime to deny that the Armenian killings
constituted a genocide.

23 countries acknowledge the event was genocide

In early October 2007, the U.S. Congress opened debate on

whether or not to declare the Armenian event a genocide –
much to the dismay of the Turkish government.
 The Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933

Joseph Stalin, leader of the

Soviet Union, set in motion
events designed to cause a
famine in the Ukraine to
destroy the people there
seeking independence from his
rule.

As a result, an estimated
7,000,000 persons perished in
this farming area, known as
the breadbasket of Europe,
with the people deprived of
the food they had grown with
their own hands.
 Nanking Massacre, 1937-1938

 In December of 1937, the

Japanese Imperial Army
marched into China's
capital city of Nanking and
proceeded to murder
300,000 out of 600,000
civilians and soldiers in the
city.

 The six weeks of carnage

would become known as
the Rape of Nanking and
represented the single
worst atrocity during the
World War II era in either
Two Japanese officers, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda
the European or Pacific competing to see who could kill (with a sword) one hundred
theaters of war. people first. The bold headline reads, "'Incredible Record' (in the
Contest to) Cut Down 100 People—Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd
Lieutenants Go Into Extra Innings"
 The Holocaust, 1939-1945
•The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored
persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi
regime and its collaborators.

•"Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire“.

•The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed

that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed
"inferior“, were an alien threat to the so-called German racial
community.
 Cambodia
1975-1979

The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large

numbers of people were killed and buried by the Communist regime
Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country from 1975-1979.

One Khmer slogan ran:

'To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.'

The massacres ended in 1979, when Communist Vietnam invaded the

country and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime.
 The East Timor Genocide
1975-1999

The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975 set the

stage for the long, bloody, and disastrous occupation of the territory
that ended only after an international peacekeeping force was
introduced in 1999.
 Guatemala
The Mayan Genocide, 1981-83

In the words of the 1999 UN-sponsored report on the civil war:

'The Army's perception of Mayan communities as natural allies of
the guerrillas contributed to increasing and aggravating the human
rights violations perpetrated against them, demonstrating an
aggressive racist component of extreme cruelty that led to
extermination en masse of defenseless Mayan communities,
including children, women and the elderly, through methods
whose cruelty has outraged the moral conscience of the civilized
world.'
 Iraq, 1988

The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds was a systematic

and deliberate murder of at least 50,000 and possibly as
many as 100,000 Kurds. It was the culmination of a long
term strategy to solve what the government saw as its
“Kurdish problem”.

Halabja (March ’88) was one

chapter of this campaign in
which chemical weapons were
used against this Kurdish
Village.
Bosnia, 1991-1995

Bosnia was part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire

until 1878 and then of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire until the First World War.

After the war it was united with other Slav

territories to form Yugoslavia, essentially ruled and
run by Serbs from the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

Yugoslavia disintegrated in June 1991

In 1992 in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina,

conflict between the three main ethnic groups,
the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in
genocide committed by the Serbs against the
Muslims in Bosnia.
 The Legacy of Mogadishu
1993

 the most violent U.S. combat firefight since Vietnam

 started out as an operation to capture warlord

Mohammed Farah Aidid--turned into a firefight that
lasted seventeen hours, left eighteen Americans dead,
eighty four wounded and continues to haunt the U.S.
military and American foreign policy

 Its legacy, say many experts, was a continuing

U.S. reluctance to be drawn into other trouble spots
such as Bosnia, Rwanda and Haiti during the 1990s.
 Rwanda
1994

800,000 Tutsis were murdered by

Hutus in a 3 month period. The
international community watched the
event unfold and did nothing.
 Rwandan Women Change Their World

Before the 1994 Rwandan genocide boys outnumbered girls in school by 9

to 1. Today boys and girls attend school in equal numbers.
Before the genocide fewer than 6 percent of college graduates were
female. Today women make up as much as 50 percent of the student
body on Rwandan college campuses.
Before the genocide the government was just over 5 percent female.
Today, women make up 30 percent of Rwanda’s local leadership and
almost a quarter of national leadership. The Rwandan Lower House of
Parliament is 49 percent women – the highest percentage of women in
any parliament in the world.
 Darfur
2003-present
 Is it genocide? Debatable death toll stands between 100 and 500,000.
 What about the Darfur crisis makes it a genocide?
 Why doesn’t the international community act?
 What role does China play in the inaction?

Relatives mourn over the body of a one-year-old child who died of

malnutrition in June 2004 in a refugee camp near a town in the
Darfur region of Sudan.
 The 8 Stages of Genocide
 Understanding the genocidal process is one of
the most important steps in preventing future
genocides.
 The Eight Stages of Genocide were first outlined
by Dr. Greg Stanton, Department of State: 1996.
 The first six stages are Early Warnings:
 Classification
 Symbolization
 Dehumanization
 Organization
 Polarization
 Preparation
Stage 1: Classification
 “Us versus them”

 Distinguish by nationality, ethnicity, race, or

religion.

 Bipolar societies (Rwanda) most likely to have

genocide because no way for classifications to
fade away through inter-marriage.

 Classification is a primary method of dividing

society and creating a power struggle between
groups.
 Classification (Rwanda)
Belgian colonialists believed Tutsis were a naturally superior nobility,
descended from the Israelite tribe of Ham. The Rwandan royalty was Tutsi.

Belgians distinguished between Hutus and Tutsis by nose size, height & eye
type. Another indicator to distinguish Hutu farmers from Tutsi pastoralists
was the number of cattle owned.
Prevention: Classification

 Promote common identities (national,

religious, human.)

 Use common languages (Swahili in

Tanzania, science, music.)

 Actively oppose racist and divisive

politicians and parties.
Stage 2: Symbolization
 Names: “Jew”, “German”, “Hutu”, “Tutsi”.
 Languages.

 Types of dress.
Group uniforms: Nazi Swastika armbands

Colors and religious symbols:

•Yellow star for Jews
•Blue checked scarf Eastern Zone in Cambodia
Stage 2: Symbolization (Rwanda)
“Ethnicity” was first noted on cards by Belgian Colonial Authorities in 1933.
Tutsis were given access to limited education programs and Catholic
priesthood. Hutus were given less assistance by colonial auhorities.
At independence, these preferences were reversed. Hutus were favored.
These ID cards were later used to distinguish Tutsis from Hutus in the 1994
massacres of Tutsis and moderate Hutus that resulted in 800,000+ deaths.
Symbolization (Nazi Germany)
Jewish Passport: “Reisepäss”
Required to be carried by all Jews by 1938. Preceded the yellow star.
Symbolization (Nazi Germany)
Nazis required the yellow Star of David emblem to be
worn by nearly all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe by 1941.
 Symbolization (Nazi Germany)
 Homosexuals = pink triangles
 Identified homosexuals to SS guards in the camps
 Caused discrimination by fellow inmates who
shunned homosexuals
Symbolization (Cambodia)
 People in the
Eastern Zone, near
Vietnam, were
accused of having
“Khmer bodies, but
Vietnamese heads.”
 They were deported
to other areas to be
worked to death.
 They were marked
with a blue and
white checked scarf
(Kroma)
Prevention: Symbolization
 Get ethnic, religious, racial, and national
identities removed from ID cards,
passports.
 Protest imposition of marking symbols on
targeted groups (yellow cloth on Hindus in
Taliban Afghanistan).
 Protest negative or racist words for
groups. Work to make them culturally
unacceptable.
 Stage 3: Dehumanization
 One group denies the humanity of another group, and
makes the victim group seem subhuman.

 Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion

against murder.

Der Stürmer Nazi Newspaper:

. Kangura Newspaper, Rwanda: “The
“The Blood Flows; The Jew Grins” Solution for Tutsi Cockroaches”
Dehumanization
From a Nazi SS Propaganda Pamphlet:

Caption: Does the same soul dwell in these bodies?

 Dehumanization
 Hate propaganda in speeches, print and on hate radios
vilify the victim group.

 Members of the victim group are described as animals,

vermin, and diseases. Hate radio, Radio Télévision Libre des
Mille Collines, during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, broadcast
anti-Tutsi messages like “kill the cockroaches” and “If this
disease is not treated immediately, it will destroy all the Hutu.”

 Dehumanization invokes superiority of one group and

inferiority of the “other.”

 Dehumanization justifies murder by calling it “ethnic cleansing,”

or “purification.” Such euphemisms hide the horror of mass
murder.
 Prevention: Dehumanization
 Vigorously protest use of dehumanizing
words that refer to people as “filth,”
“vermin,” animals or diseases. Deny people
using such words visas and freeze their
foreign assets and contributions.
 Prosecute hate crimes and incitements to
commit genocide.
 Jam or shut down hate radio and television
stations where there is danger of genocide.
Prevention: Dehumanization
 Provide programs for tolerance to radio,
TV, and newspapers.
 Enlist religious and political leaders to
speak out and educate for tolerance.
 Organize inter-ethnic, interfaith, and inter-
racial groups to work against hate and
genocide.
Stage 4: Organization
 Genocide is a group crime, so must be organized.
 The state usually organizes, arms and financially supports the
groups that conduct the genocidal massacres. (State
organization is not a legal requirement --Indian partition.)
 Plans are made by elites for a “final solution” of genocidal
killings.
 Organization (Rwanda)
 “Hutu Power” elites
armed youth militias
called Interahamwe
("Those Who Stand
Together”).

 The government and

Hutu Power
businessmen provided
the militias with over
500,000 machetes and
other arms and set up
camps to train them to
“protect their villages”
by exterminating every
Tutsi.
 Prevention: Organization
 Treat genocidal groups as the organized
crime groups they are. Make membership in
them illegal and demand that their leaders be
arrested.
 Deny visas to leaders of hate groups and
freeze their foreign assets.
 Impose arms embargoes on hate groups and
governments supporting ethnic or religious
hatred.
 Create UN commissions to enforce such
arms embargoes and call on UN members to
arrest arms merchants who violate them.
 Stage 5: Polarization
 Extremists drive the groups apart.
 Hate groups broadcast and print polarizing propaganda.
 Laws are passed that forbid intermarriage or social
interaction.
 Political moderates are silenced, threatened and intimidated,
and killed.
•Public demonstrations
were organized against
Jewish merchants.
• Moderate German
dissenters were the first
to be arrested and sent
to concentration camps.
 Polarization
 Attacks are staged
and blamed on
targeted groups.
In Germany, the Reichstag
fire was blamed on Jewish
Communists in 1933.
 Cultural centers of
targeted groups are
attacked.
On Kristalnacht in 1938,
hundreds of synagogues
were burned.
 Prevention: Polarization
 Vigorously protest laws or policies that
segregate or marginalize groups, or that
deprive whole groups of citizenship rights.

 Physically protect moderate leaders, by use

of armed guards and armored vehicles.

 Demand the release of moderate leaders if

they are arrested. Demand and conduct
investigations if they are murdered.

 Oppose coups d’état by extremists.

Stage 6: Preparation
 Members of victim
groups are forced to
wear identifying
symbols.
 Death lists are made.
 Victims are
separated because
of their ethnic or
religious identity.
 Preparation
 Segregation into
ghettoes is imposed,
victims are forced into
concentration
camps.

 Victims are also

deported to famine-
struck regions for
Forced Resettlement into
starvation. Ghettos – Poland 1939 - 1942
Preparation
 Weapons for
killing are stock-
piled.
 Extermination
camps are even
built. This build- up
of killing capacity is
a major step
towards actual
genocide.
 Prevention: Preparation
 With evidence of death lists, arms
shipments, militia training, and trial
massacres, a Genocide Alert™ should be
declared.

 UN Security Council should warn it will act

(but only if it really will act.)
Diplomats must warn potential perpetrators.

 Humanitarian relief should be prepared.

 Military intervention forces should be

organized, including logistics and financing.
 Stage 7: Extermination (Genocide)
 Extermination
begins, and
becomes the
mass killing
legally called
"genocide."
Most genocide is
committed by
Einsatzgrupen: Nazi Killing Squads
governments.
Extermination (Genocide)

Government organized extermination

of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994
Extermination (Genocide)
•The killing is
“extermination” to
the killers because
they do not believe
the victims are fully
human. They are
“cleansing” the
society of
impurities, disease,
animals, vermin,
“cockroaches,” or Roma (Gypsies) in a Nazi
enemies. death camp
 Extermination (Genocide)
 Although most
genocide is
sponsored and
financed by the state,
the armed forces
often work with local
militias.

Rwandan militia killing squads

Nazi killing squad working

with local militia
Extermination: Stopping Genocide
 Regional organizations, national
governments, and the UN Security Council
should impose targeted sanctions to
undermine the economic viability of the
perpetrator regime.
 Sales of oil and imports of gasoline should be
stopped by blockade of ports and land routes.
 Perpetrators should be indicted by the
International Criminal Court.
Extermination: Stopping Genocide
 The UN Security Council should authorize
armed intervention by regional military
forces or by a UN force under Chapter
Seven of the UN Charter.
 The Mandate must include protection of
civilians and humanitarian workers and a No
Fly Zone.
 The Rules of Engagement must be robust and
include aggressive prevention of killing.
 The major military powers must provide
leadership, logistics, airlift, communications,
and financing.
 If the state where the genocide is underway
will not permit entry, its UN membership
Stage 8: Denial
 Denial is always found in genocide, both
during it and after it.
 Continuing denial is among the surest
indicators of further genocidal massacres.
 Denial extends the crime of genocide to
future generations of the victims. It is a
continuation of the intent to destroy the
group.
 The tactics of denial are predictable.
Denial: Deny the Evidence.
 Deny that there was any mass killing at
all.

 Question and minimize the statistics.

 Block access to archives and witnesses.

 Intimidate or kill eye-witnesses.

Denial: Deny the Evidence
 Destroy the evidence. (Burn the bodies and
the archives, dig up and burn the mass
graves, throw bodies in rivers or seas.)

Holocaust Death-Camp Crematoria

Denial: Attack the truth-tellers.

 Attack the motives of the truth-tellers.

Say they are opposed to the religion,
ethnicity, or nationality of the deniers.

 Point out atrocities committed by people

from the truth-tellers’ group. Imply they
are morally disqualified to accuse the
perpetrators.
Denial: Deny Genocidal Intent.
 Claim that the deaths were inadvertent
(due to famine, migration, or disease.)
 Blame “out of control” forces for the
killings.
 Blame the deaths on ancient ethnic
conflicts.
Denial: Blame the Victims.
 Emphasize the strangeness of the
victims. They are not like us. (savages,
infidels)
 Claim they were disloyal insurgents in a
war.
 Call it a “civil war,” not genocide.
 Claim that the deniers’ group also
suffered huge losses in the “war.” The
killings were in self-defense.
Denial: Deny for current interests.
 Avoid upsetting “the peace process.”
“Look to the future, not to the past.”
 Deny to assure benefits of relations with
the perpetrators or their descendents.
(oil, arms sales, alliances, military bases)
 Don’t threaten humanitarian assistance
to the victims, who are receiving good
treatment. (Show the model
Thereisenstadt IDP camp.)
Denial: Deny facts fit legal definition of
genocide.
 They’re crimes against humanity, not
genocide.
 They’re “ethnic cleansing”, not genocide.
 There’s not enough proof of specific intent to
destroy a group, “as such.” (“Many
survived!”-
UN Commission of Inquiry on Darfur.)
 Claim the only “real” genocides are like the
Holocaust: “in whole.”
(Ignore the “in part” in the Genocide
Convention.)
 Claim declaring genocide would legally
obligate us to intervene. (We don’t want to
intervene.)
Prevention requires:

1. Early
warning

2. Rapid
response

3. Courts for
accountability
 Genocide continues due to:
•Lack of authoritative international
institutions to predict it
•Lack of ready rapid response forces to stop it

UNAMIR peacekeeper in Rwanda, April 1994

 Genocide continues due to:
•Lack of political will to peacefully prevent
it
and to forcefully intervene to stop it

UN Security Council votes to withdraw

UNAMIR troops from Rwanda, April 1994
Memorial to 800,000 Rwandans murdered,
April – July, 1994
 Halabja, Kurdistan, Iraq
Memorial to 5000 killed in chemical
attack 16 March 1988. 182,000
Kurds died in Anfal genocide.
Prevention: Political Will
 Build an international mass movement to
end genocide in this century.
 Organize civil society and human rights
groups.
 Mobilize religious leaders of churches,
mosques, synagogues, and temples.
 Put genocide education in curricula of
every secondary school and university in
the world.
 Hold political leaders accountable. If they
fail to act to stop genocide, vote them out
of office.
Never Again? Or Again and Again?
 How can we use the 8
Stages of Genocide to
develop more effective
ways to prevent genocide in
the future?

 Would it be useful for the

UN to establish a Genocide
Prevention Center to work
with the Special Adviser for
Genocide Prevention?

 Even with Early Warning,

how can we achieve
effective Early Response to
prevent and stop genocide?