The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
1. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), the Convention applies to treaties between states.
2. The Preamble enshrines the recognition of genocide as a crime that must be eradicated from the world within the conceptual framework of the Convention. The atrocities of history are declared as evidence of the substantial impact that genocide has had on humanity and to prevent these atrocities international co-operation is required.
3. Articles I and II, Article I which recognises genocide as an international crime in “time of peace or in time of war” which states undertake to “prevent” and “punish”. Article II defines the crime of genocide specifying “an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
4. Article IV through to Article IX; in particular Article V directs states to enact the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the Convention outlined in Articles I, II and III. Article VIII also provides for states to call upon the United Nations (UN) to take action for the prevention and suppression of the acts enumerated in Article III. While Article VI enshrines the role of tribunals in punishing the crime of genocide and hence enforcing Articles I, II and III.
5. Articles X and XI, the Convention was open for signature on 9 December 1948 until 31 December 1949, on behalf of any Member of the UN and of any non-member State to which an invitation to sign had been addressed by the General Assembly.
6. Article V asserts that states must enact the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the Convention.
7. Article XI, after 1 January 1950 the Convention ...
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...al of International Law, vol. 20, no. 4, p. 1195-1222.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 9 December 1948, 12 January 1951.
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The physical and mental intent to destroy another being often unveils the darkest side of human nature. In the memoir, “An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography” dedicated to the Rwandan genocide, war hero Paul Rusesabagina states: “A sad truth of human nature is that it is hard to care for people when they are abstractions, hard to care when it is not you or somebody close to you. Unless the world community can stop finding ways to dither in the face of this monstrous threat to humanity those words never again will persist in being one of the most abused phrases in the English language and one of the greatest lies of our time.” The United Nations promised never again would they allow genocide to occur after the Second World War. Unfortunately, less
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Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once said, "We were not realizing that with just a machete, you can do a genocide." To be candid, nobody anticipated the Rwandan Genocide that occurred in 1994. The genocide in Rwanda was an infamous blood-red blur in modern history where almost a million innocent people were murdered in cold blood. Members of the Tutsi tribe were systematically hacked or beaten to death by members of the Interahamwe, a militia made up of Hutu tribe members. In just 100 days, from April 6, 1994 to mid-July, 20% of Rwanda's population was killed; about 10,000 people a day. Bodies literally were strewn over city streets. Genocide obviously violates almost all articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; however, the article I find most important is Article 3 - the right to life, liberty, and personal security. In just 100 days, one million people were denied the most basic privilege granted to every human – the right to live, simply because they were born to the wrong tribe.
Greenfield, Daniel M. "Crime of Complicity in Genocide: How the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia Got It Wrong, and Why It Matters." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 98.3 (2008): 921-24. HeinOnline. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
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It was in December 1948, when it was approved unanimous the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide at France which became the 260th resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations. What made the leaders of the 41 States create and sign this document in which the term Genocide was legally defined? This document serves as a permanent reminder of the actions made by the Nazis and their leader Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust where more than five million of European Jews were killed. In summary I will explain what were the events that leaded the ordinary Germans kill more than six million Jews in less than five years. To achieve this goal, I will base my arguments on the Double Spiral Degeneration Model provided by Doctor Olson during the spring semester of the Comparative Genocide class.
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
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The driving factor behind the disagreement of interpretations regarding the famines genocidal status lies within the ill-defined parameters of the term itself. Deborah Mayersen recognises the intense debate in regards to the accepted meanings in conjunction with the term genocide and the impact of such a discourse influencing historical interpretations and subsequent responses to present issues. The term became officially recognised in 1948 by the United Nations, spurred on by the atrocities that occurred during the Second World War. Holocaust scholars Frank Chalk and Kurk Johanson have become increasingly uncomfortable with the over usage of the word genocide, in particularly its application as in regard to the Ukrainian famine and the potential
Russel-Brown, Sherrie. “Rape as an Act of Genocide.” Berkeley Journal of International Law. 21:2 (2003): 350-374. Google Scholar. Web. 28 April 2014.
Hymowitz, Sarah, and Amelia Parker. "Lessons - The Genocide Teaching Project - Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law." American University Washington College of Law. American UniversityWashington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitaian Law, 2011. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. .