Genocide & Mass atrocities

includes topics from week 10

mass atrocities

The deliberate actions of armed groups that result in the deaths of at least 1,000 noncombatant civilians targeted as part of a specific group over a period of one year or less.

intrinsically political violence, often seen to violate foundational grundnorms of collective humanity

5 distinct atrocity crimes

1. genocide

2. war crimes

3. crimes against humanity

4. ethnic cleansing

5. ( crime of aggression ) - powerful states typically commit crimes of aggression

Genocide

1948 Genocide Convention

genocide means any of the following acts commited with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethical , racial or religious group

acts of genocide

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;

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3 of genocide convention

The following acts shall be punishable:

Attempt to commit genocide;

Conspiracy to commit genocide;

Complicity in genocide.

Public incitement to commit genocide;

Genocide;

crimes against humanity

any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population

• murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment

• torture, rape (and other gender-based or sex crimes)

• group-based persecution, enforced disappearance, apartheid

War Crimes

serious violations of international humanitarian law and occur in the state of armed conflict.

The Rome Statute lists numerous acts that may constitute war crimes

including attacks on civilians, forcibly recruiting and using child soldiers, and destruction of educational and religious institutions.

Ethnic cleansing

forced removal of an ethnic group from a territory -

ethnic cleansing is not recognized as a standalone crime under international law. However, the practice of ethnic cleansing may constitute other atrocity crimes

important events

• Geneva Conventions (1949)

• Hauge Conventions (1899/1907)

• Rome Statutes (1998)

Geneva conventions (1949)

• 1st - protection of wounded, and red cross and red crescent as signs of protection

• 4th - protection of civilans , should never be murdered or tortured, protection against sexual violence occupying power must do as much as possible 2 ensure food and medical supplies

• Hague Conventions (1899/1907)

focused on preventing warring parties from using specific tools and tactics of warfare. They establish the laws and customs of war by defining the rules that warring sides must follow during hostilities. ( war crimes )

• Rome Statutes (1998)

established four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

r2p

an international norm that seeks to ensure that the international community never again fails to halt the mass atrocity crimes

prevention not response

3 pillars of r2p

1. Every state has the Responsibility to Protect its populations from four mass atrocity crimes

2. wider international community has the responsibility to encourage and assist individual states in meeting responsibility.

3. if a state is failing to protect its populations , international community must take collective action ( accordance w UN charter )

where does r2p come from

emerged in failures of international community to respond to mass atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s

most contentious aspect of r2p

Pillar III; Much contestation of RtoP is at the 'applicatory' level: how should global international society uphold this norm, rather than at the "validity' level