Genocide Case Research Articles

Stigmatisation as settler colonialism: designating humanitarian and civic society organisations in Palestine as security threats

ABSTRACT Since Hamas’s 7th October attacks on southern Israel, the Palestinian population living in the Gaza Strip has been subjected to an unprecedented level of destruction that has decimated every aspect of Palestinian life. The ongoing Israeli military invasion has been considered a ‘plausible case of genocide’, and the humanitarian catastrophe has been compounded by major restrictions on access to humanitarian aid. Accusations of supporting ‘terror’ have been levied against UNRWA, the major provider of humanitarian services in Gaza, leading to an initial suspension of donor support to the organisation by many western governments. In this article, we consider the Israeli government’s tactics used to delegitimise those involved in providing humanitarian and lifesaving support for the Palestinian population, concluding that the construction and dissemination of narratives that depict them as being ‘terroristic’ or having ‘terrorist’ connections is a sophisticated additional layer of the settler colonial logic of elimination and erasure.

Archaeology and a case of genocide: the ‘indigenous prisons’ of Minas Gerais, Brazil

ABSTRACT A 2021 sentence condemned a retired Major of the Military Police of Minas Gerais on charges of genocide against the Krenak people. Between 1969 and 1979, that state’s Military Police established two prisons of exception. The sentence is crucial on the grounds of the enormous human and cultural damage endured by the indigenous peoples of Brazil during the Military Dictatorship of 1964–1985, as established by the Brazilian Truth Commission. This paper discusses an archaeological and anthropological approach to the conditions prevailing at these prisons and attested by some of its survivors. By addressing their form of internment, the slave labour and torture committed at them, this paper will discuss the extent to which such prisons can be considered concentration camps. This article on their archaeological study hopes to make a useful contribution to the archaeology of repression and resistance to that dictatorship.

Examining the international political and legal accountability of states for genocide, ecocide, and weapons of mass destruction: current norms, practices, and political implications

The article reveals the international framework of political and legal liability of states for committing acts of genocide, ecocide, and using weapons of mass destruction. It is emphasized that these areas form a separate legal responsibility institution within international law. The author emphasizes the lack of unity between theoretical and practical aspects of legal regulation of using weapons of mass destruction, as well as the role that liability plays in the progressive development of law. The paper also highlights topical issues related to the paradigm shifts in modern international law due to the cases of genocide, ecocide, and WMD. The study aims to analyze international legal norms and practices of holding states accountable for the crimes of genocide, ecocide, and use of weapons of mass destruction. The following methods were employed in the course of this research: systemic, comparative legal, historical and legal, structural and functional, and generalization. The article emphasizes that most international crimes are committed with the support or under the control of collective entities, especially states. Nevertheless, international law has tended to impose responsibility for such crimes not only on certain people but also on states. The predominant response of the international community to international crimes was to impose responsibility on specific persons to the extent that it has been directed through international responsibility law. In this regard, it has been symbolized by prosecuting particular criminals through international criminal courts and tribunals.

War in Ukraine and the International Court of Justice: Provisional Measures and the Third-Party Right to Intervene in Proceedings

Abstract At the time of writing, the war in Ukraine was the subject of ICJ proceedings in the Allegations of Genocide case. As the case title suggests, however, the key issue before the ICJ is not Russia’s use of force, but the question of genocide. Restrictions on its jurisdiction have led to the ICJ facing a serious dilemma between, on the one hand, having to meet unprecedented high levels of expectation and political pressure to stop Russia’s military action and, on the other, inherent legal constraints in maintaining its judicial character. This article elucidates how the ICJ has overcome procedural hurdles, including the requirements for provisional measures and intervention, to reach conclusions in favour of Ukraine. It also highlights the procedural challenges arising from the acrobatic reasoning adopted by the ICJ in the present case.

EXAMINING THE PRESENT SITUATION OF ROHINGYA PEOPLE

ABSTRACT
 The Rohingya people of Myanmar are considered one of the most persecuted people on earth, whose ancestral home is Rakhine State, Myanmar. The Myanmar government has been persecuting them for years. In 1982, the government revoked their citizenship. Following the beginning of the current Rohingya crisis in 2017, Myanmar's security forces have engaged in crimes against humanity and genocide against them, as other people have documented. As a result, Myanmar is facing a genocide case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has been filed by the Gambia. Later, in 2022, the US officially recognized Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingya as genocide. Now, a large number of Rohingya people who fled Myanmar are living in Bangladesh. Some are living in Myanmar. This study, based on secondary data, aims to examine the present situation of Rohingya people living in Bangladesh and Myanmar. The study shows that, till now, Rohingya people are facing different obstacles. Their lives are less protected.
 Keywords: Rohingya, Rohingya crisis, Bangladesh, Myanmar, present situation

The Forcible Transfer of Children from Ukraine as Genocide

Abstract On 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber ii of the International Criminal Court (icc) issued secret warrants of arrest for President Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, Ms. Lvova-Belova, for the commission of the war crime of forcible transfer of children. This article argues that there are “reasonable grounds to believe”, as the icc Statute requires for the arrest warrant stage, that both Putin and Lvova-Belova bear individual criminal responsibility for the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children as a crime of genocide; however, two types of considerations – general and particular – prevented the issuing of arrest warrants for genocide crimes. In Section 2, after a short historical-legal review of the formulation of Article 2(e) of the Genocide Convention (gc), the article notes that despite the significant number of cases of children being transferred and removed from their families that have taken place since the gc was adopted, the provision has been dormant and considered anachronistic and was rarely applied by an international or a local court. Section 3 proceeds with a legal analysis of the elements of the crime of the forced transfer of children and the genocidal special intent. Section 4 parses the case study of the forcible transfer of children from Ukraine as a crime of genocide. Section 5 analyses the litigation of the crime of genocide in the icc through the only case of genocide the court has addressed so far: the arrest warrant for Sudan’s former president, Omar al-Bashir. Section 6 concludes with a forecast that despite the sufficient legal basis for issuing arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova, practical and political considerations would impede the icc from doing so.

The ICJ Order on provisional measures of January 2024 in South Africa v. Israel on Genocide Case: An expected but disappointing decision

The ICJ Order on provisional measures of January 2024 in South Africa v. Israel on Genocide Case: An expected but disappointing decision

Why Prevention Fails: Chronicling the Genocide in Artsakh

Azerbaijan’s September 19, 2023 attack on the Republic of Artsakh resulted in the almost total displacement of the indigenous Armenian population, making it one of the most successful genocides in history. For over a year before Azerbaijan’s attack, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention viewed Artsakh as the “perfect storm” for genocide prevention and was using as many strategies as possible to urge Western leaders to recognize the threat and take effective action. Any leader willing to challenge Azerbaijan diplomatically would have had the work of many genocide scholars and genocide prevention organizations to back them up. We still believe that coordinated pressure from the Western powers could have had a chance of avoiding genocide and may have resulted in finding a secure, and perhaps independent, space for Artsakh Armenians in their ancestral homeland. This article aims to show how the case of genocide in Artsakh is an object lesson in how diplomatic silences, shaped by geopolitical interests, can provide the power framework in which genocide can easily take place, offer diplomatic cover for the state or organization committing the crime, and normalizing the crime within international relations. It proposes that the genocide in Artsakh ushered in a new “New Imperialism”, in which the post-1945 law-based world order is jettisoned for raw power, threatened communities and unwanted peoples are less safe than they were before September 19, 2023, and genocide will become the order of the day – unless we find new mechanisms to prevent it.

The Hegemony of a Ruling Party as a Common Element in the Armenian Genocide, the Holodomor and the Holocaust

With the development of comparative genocide as the second generation of genocide studies over the last decades it became important to examine the Holodomor as a crime of genocide committed by the Communist party of the Soviet Union in comparative perspective with other genocides. In this article, the author offers a comparative analysis of the Holodomor with cases of genocide in the first half of the 20th century – namely, the Armenian genocide of the Ottoman Empire and the Holocaust of Nazi Germany – from the perspective of perpetrators (organizers). The author compares the three genocides as crimes under international law in terms of one of the mental elements of genocide that characterizes each of them, noting the similarities in ruling political parties as organizers of those crimes who exercised the collective intent in each of the case of genocide under analyses. The author argues that hegemony of a ruling party: the Ittihadists, the Communists, and the Nazis which substituted the state organization was a common element in the genocides perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Third Reich. Moreover, in the ongoing Russian genocide against the Ukrainian nation with culmination since 24 February 2022, it is again the ruling party – Yedinaya Rosiya (Single Russia) which is the foundation of Russian totalitarian regime that organized this crime of genocide.

Unacknowledged genocide: Coercive sterilization of Indigenous women in Peru

From 1996 until 2000, under the pretense of upholding women’s rights and expanding access to family planning resources, the Peruvian government launched an aggressive sterilization campaign that disproportionately targeted Indigenous peoples. In total, 272,028 persons were sterilized, the majority of whom were of Indigenous descent and resided in rural and poor areas. Recent studies conclude this to be a case of genocide, with the state systematically subjecting an ethnic minority population—the Indigenous peoples—to a coercive sterilization campaign that sought to eliminate in whole or in part Andean and Amazonian Indigenous communities. Despite the alarming evidence about the genocide committed against Indigenous peoples, victims are yet to be recognized by the state. The denial of victims’ sufferings leaves the work of building and creating humanity after atrocity incomplete. This study focuses on the unacknowledged memories of genocide, engaging in an analysis of the norms of reparations. The denial of the state to grant integral reparations, despite the existence of a modified law on reparations, points to a purposeful silencing of these victims. Furthermore, these practices represent a new layer of genocide against Indigenous peoples that neglects their victimhood and raises questions as to the absence of humanity after atrocity.

Revisiting the Standard of Proof for Charges of Exceptional Gravity before the International Court of Justice

Abstract The International Court of Justice has consistently required a stricter standard of proof for ‘charges of exceptional gravity’. The Bosnia Genocide and Croatia Genocide cases saw the Court require the high standard of ‘fully conclusive’ evidence across all elements of the allegations of genocide. Despite the difficulties associated with obtaining the necessary evidence of the intent of the perpetrators to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group to establish the commission of genocide, the Court allowed little flexibility in the application of that standard in what may have been a departure from its previous cases relating to grave charges. The Court emphasized the gravity of the allegations and the high stigmatization attached to a finding of responsibility for genocide, suggesting a strong emphasis on the consequences of a finding of responsibility for the wrongdoing State over other interests that may also have been present in the proceedings. The Court has yet to explain the rationale for the high standard of proof applied to charges of exceptional gravity in international judicial proceedings, or why it required a particularly stringent standard of proof in the Genocide cases. This raises questions about the Court’s approaches to the standard of proof and the process by which it balances different interests in judicial proceedings. As States seek out the Court’s jurisdiction for serious breaches of international law – including, for example, the pending Rohingya Genocide case – the Court’s strict approach to the standard of proof risks imposing a high bar to the enforcement of these obligations.

LINICHENKO V. SIGNS OF GENOCIDE IN THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

The article is dedicated to defining and analyzing the concept of genocide in order to establish its characteristics in the context of crimes committed against the Ukrainian civilian population by Russia during the full-scale war in Ukraine. This research refers to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which provides the definition and a list of genocide indicators, such as mass killing, systematic physical and psychological violence, planned destruction of a group, destruction of cultural heritage aimed at the group's destruction, as well as measures aimed at preventing births and transferring children to another group. The article emphasizes the need to identify genocide indicators in crimes against the Ukrainian people and the use of international law to confirm these facts. The research of previous cases of genocide and their analysis is planned to establish analogies with the Ukrainian situation and confirm that Russia's acts of war in Ukraine have intentional character. The recognition of genocide in Ukraine as a theoretical problem is only beginning to be considered by Ukrainian and foreign scientists. Therefore, this study is an attempt to establish the obvious characteristic features of genocide in Ukraine, based on the analysis of foreign cases. The evolution of genocide theories changed from purely legalistic, legal approaches to a more comprehensive understanding of genocide, including ideological, political, and social components. Establishing the facts of genocide is a complex task that requires thorough research and analysis. The first step involves studying previous cases of genocide, such as the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Guatemalan Genocide. This will help establish analogies with the Ukrainian situation and identify common features. Researching international law, particularly the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, will be an important stage. This document provides a clear definition of genocide and a list of indicators that can be used to analyze the situation in Ukraine. It is crucial to maintain international pressure and provide evidence of genocide crimes in Ukraine to attract the attention of the global community and acknowledge these crimes. Preventing similar crimes in the future and protecting the victims should also be key priorities

‘They blame the messenger’: Re-examining the critique of journalists reporting on genocide in Rwanda and Srebrenica

Reporting on cases of genocide presents distinct complexities and challenges for journalists, who must negotiate practical, professional, and emotional experiences that challenge traditional expectations of their role. Previous research has provided strident critiques of this reporting, arguing Western reporting of genocide in Rwanda and Srebrenica was reductionist and biased and contributed to the lack of Western intervention. Drawing on 22 interviews with print journalists who reported on genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica, this article challenges this dominant critique by foregrounding the voices of journalists and their experience of reporting. Themes of inaccessibility, the moral imperative to report on these events, and the intersection with emotional labour on emotional effects of this reporting crucially demonstrates and acknowledges the challenges of conflict reporting. This adds to contemporary debates around how emotion, attachment and morality intertwine in journalism practice and the importance of this consideration when assessing the impact of reporting.

Keeping score: an empirical analysis of the interventions in Ukraine v Russia

Abstract The Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v Russia) case involves an unprecedented number of Article 63 declarations of intervention. We consider the specific arguments made in individual declarations, but also the mass nature of the declarations. In order to do this in a systematic manner, we employ empirical methods to identify those declarations and arguments that are more central and those that are more unique. Using citation network analysis, we identify the main and central arguments presented by states in their declarations. Moreover, we find evidence that states have co-operated in the preparation of their intervention declarations, using Article 63 as an opportunity to collectively condemn Russia as well as offer their joint interpretation of the Genocide Convention. But while all states come to support Ukraine, the interventions are not necessarily helpful to Ukraine’s case.

How to Win a Genocide Case: Analyzing the Triple Strategy of the Advocates of the Rohingya in Myanmar

The Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar was subjected to discrimination and gross violations of human rights for many decades. During the last two waves of military crackdowns in Rakhine State (October 2016 to January 2017; August to September 2017), the Tatmadaw army and civilians committed atrocities against the Rohingya that amounted to crimes against humanity and genocide. Advocates for the Rohingya's suffering took action to leverage the findings of the investigations of international mechanisms. They endeavored for an international condemnation of Myanmar at the ICJ, and they filed a complaint in an Argentinian court for the application of universal jurisdiction to prosecute the military and the political leadership responsible for ordering and committing the atrocities. They also encouraged an investigation of the atrocities in the ICC. The litigators’ main focus was set on genocide. However, while genocide carries the stigma of being the most heinous of crimes, it is also the hardest to prove, particularly the special intent to commit it. This article assesses the chances of the triple strategy applied by the Rohingya advocates. It argues that litigating the case in three different fora, assures that the forums back each other up, so that the flaws of one are compensated by the others. Thus, the chances for accountability for the crime of genocide are increased. The fora work interoperably to achieve the goal of proving the occurrence of genocide in Myanmar so as to impose state responsibility and individual criminal responsibility.

The Ethics of Care for “Others”: A Template for Addressing Security Problems in Nigeria

Generally, insecurity in Nigeria is no longer news. This insecurity finds expression socially, politically, economically and physically. This paper, however, focuses on the threat to life and property that has become recurrent in recent times; especially earmarked by the recent cases of kidnapping, robbery, terrorism and genocide. Using the analytic and expository methods, findings show that an economic distributive injustice is a major factor contributing to the high rate of poverty and insecurity in the country today. The consciousness that everyone ought to fend for himself has left the vulnerable, the weak and the natural environment abandoned for decades. The result is what we are witnessing today– banditry, kidnapping for ransom, etc. However, the situation inadvertently reveals our interconnectedness in the society. The paper argues that the existential ethics of acknowledging and appreciating our interconnectedness with the ‘other ’is a moral sensitivity that can engender care for others, and reduce security challenges in Nigeria.

КРИМІНАЛІЗАЦІЯ ЗАПЕРЕЧЕННЯ ГОЛОДОМОРУ У КОНТЕКСТІ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО ДОСВІДУ ЗАБОРОНИ ЗАПЕРЕЧЕННЯ ГЕНОЦИДУ

The article highlights the problems and prospects of establishing of criminal lability for Holodomor denial in the context of the experience of criminalizing genocide denial, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in European countries. Significant part of western researchers considers that the prosecution of persons who deny genocide should take place primarily in those countries where the mass extermination of large human groups took place in the past and whose society has knowledge of the relevant historical context. Criminalization of denials of genocide in European countries took place in stages. During the 1990s, France, Germany and Belgium established criminal liability for denying the crimes of the Third Reich, including the Holocaust. At the beginning of the XXI century several countries in Eastern and Southern Europe introduced responsibility for the denial of crimes committed by Nazi and communist totalitarian regimes. The next stage of the criminalization of genocide denial began in 2015–2016, it consisted in the establishment of a general ban on denial of all cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, without excluding. Spain, Italy, Germany and others countries of Europe adopted laws of this plan. Currently, international law does not require punishment for genocide denial, but there are noticeable trends leading to the establishment of such a universal norm. Between 2003 and 2008, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament issued a series of decisions that justified the right of democratic countries to restrict freedom of speech on issues related to the denial of the Holocaust and others crimes of the Nazi totalitarian regime of the Third Reich. Genocide denial is a violation of the right to respect for human dignity – not only victims of genocide, but also their descendants are considered victims in cases of this kind.

Критика религии в философии софистов

The article deals with the socio-historical conditions of the formation of criticism of religion in the philosophy of sophists. It is shown that there were two directions in the religious criticism of the sophists. The first direction was associated with religious agnosticism. Protagoras defended the idea of the incomprehensibility of the gods. The statements of Gorgias and Xeniades contributed to the strengthening of religious skepticism. The second direction was connected with the development of theories of the origin of religion. Prodicus and his idea of the deification of useful things by ancient people is one of the first attempts at a rational explanation of the origin of religion. Critias’ idea that the gods were invented in order to maintain public order challenged the entire religious consciousness of the Greeks. The theories of Prodicus and Critias contributed to the development of ancient atheism. It is established that the sophists adhered to an ambivalent position on the question of attitude to religion. On the one hand, the sophists did not seek to destroy religious institutions. They recognized the value of religion because they considered it one of the benefits of civilization. According to sophists, religion plays an important role in the life of society. It supports moral norms, laws and order. On the other hand, the views of the sophists posed a great danger to traditional religious beliefs. The views of the sophists contributed to the doubt of the existence of gods and the weakening of religious beliefs. It is established that the Peloponnesian War played an important role in the formation of the religious criticism of the sophists. The destructive nature of the Peloponnesian War led to the decline of moral and religious norms. The plague in Athens, the cases of genocide, the triumph of brute force and lawlessness contributed to the growth of distrust of public institutions and disillusionment with religion. All this created favorable conditions for the development of moral and ethical relativism and religious skepticism in the philosophy of sophists.

Criminology and Massive Violation of Human Rights: The Case of Terrorism and Genocide

AbstractThe criminological dimension of crime generally does not arouse great enthusiasm from researchers in Arab countries, unlike Anglo-Saxon- or French-speaking countries. Admittedly, Western criminology is more advanced, but it is more interested in common crimes than in mass crimes such as crimes against humanity, genocide, human trafficking or terrorism. However, the rare existing studies reveal the emergence of a criminology of massive human rights violations and expose some particularities of this criminal phenomenon. These include the often transnational nature of the crimes, the geographical, socio-economic and political disparity of criminals, the high number of victims, and more. The relationship between criminal law, criminology and human rights should be examined to determine the complementarity of the law and the empirical criminal sciences in crime prevention.

Globalization and Localization of Holocaust Memory


 
 
 Western media’s narrative of the current Ukrainian refugee crisis has revealed underpinnings of white supremacist ethnic values that fuel Western cosmopolitanism. Integrating globalized cases of war and genocide into local narratives allows for Western nations to condemn human rights abuses while ignoring their own histories of atrocities. In this paper I present the processes of globalization and localization of Holocaust memorialization as a case study by which to understand how Western, globalized nations engage in dialogue about human rights. I first illustrate the emergence of discourses surrounding memory, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, which gave rise to a global Holocaust memory in the West. I then outline how this global memory was adopted locally, resulting in the nationalization of Holocaust memorialization. I argue that a consequence of the localization of Holocaust memory is that it serves to subvert local memories of human rights abuses, ultimately keeping colonial institutions intact.