Genocide

From ArticleWorld

Genocide is a crime against humanity, committed through a synchronized and total destruction of an ethnic group. The word, which comes from the Greek words “genos” and the Latin word “cide”, literally means “to kill a tribe”

Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines it as a crime committed in any of the following manner:

1. inflicting mental or bodily harm to members of an ethnic, national or religious group
2. killing of members of an ethnic, national or religious group
3. subjecting members of an ethnic or religious group to living conditions that is aimed at ultimately destroying or annihilating them
4. paving the way for conditions that is aimed at preventing births among members of the group

Elements

The term genocide was invented by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin, who is Polish- Jewish. The term genocide, as adopted by the Geneva Convention, had the following elements:

• a synchronized plan
• aimed at destroying the important foundations or institutions of ethnic or religious groups
• ultimate aim of annihilation or total destruction of the whole ethnic tribe or religious group
• alienating children by removing them from their own group and transferring them to another group

While the Geneva Convention boasts of memberships from the UN Security Council as well as some of the most powerful nations in the world, this has not always been the case. The international group suffered for over four decades due to the lack of support from these nations.

The crime of genocide is best characterized by the Nazi-instigated Holocaust, which deliberately sought and resulted to the lost of social identity of the victims.

Is genocide a war crime? The 1907 Hague Convention discussed war crimes but Lemkin believes that genocide is not a violation of the rules of war but is an immoral crime against the whole humanity.

prevention of genocide

While signatories to the Convention for the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide are mandated to punish genocide, they have exempted themselves from persecution for the same crime they are seeking to prevent and to punish.

Among the signatories to the convention are the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Bahrain, United States, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Norway and Cyprus. This immunity has been used by the United States when Yugoslavia bought charges against it for the Kosovo War in 1999.

While most people relate genocide with the crimes committed by the Nazis, the same crime has been committed and is continuously being committed even up to this day. Among the nations suspected of committing genocide are:

The French Army, particularly members of the peace-keeping force sent to Rwanda in 1994, has been accused of committing genocide. Witnesses, who participated in the 2005 investigation initiated by Jacques Baillet testified to seeing French soldiers participating in a genocide committed by members of the Hutu militia.

While the Netherlands limit genocide prosecution to its nationals, Spanish law provides for the prosecution of those suspected of committing genocide, even if the suspects are foreigners. This was exemplified by the 2003 extradition and trial of Ricardo Miguel Cavallo, a naval officer from Argentina who is facing genocide charges as a result of military dictatorship in Argentina. Furthermore, it was reported early in 2006 that former Chinese officials including former President Jiang Zemin and Prime Miister Li Peng will soon be facing a Spanish Court investigation for their alleged participation in the commission of genocide in Tibet.