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About the Genocides

The term genocide was first used in 1943 by the Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin. The word was coined from the Greek word genos meaning family, tribe or race and the Latin cide meaning killing. Lemkin campaigned for recognition of the ’extermination of human groups’ as a crime based originally on the murder of almost 2 million Armenians by Turks during the First World War.

Following the Holocaust Lemkin continued his campaign to have the now named crime of genocide recognised as such by the international community. At the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in 1945 which tried senior Nazi officials on the charge of Crimes Against Humanity the word genocide was included in the indictment in descriptive but not legal terms.

On 11 December 1946 the General Assembly of the United Nations resolved that genocide was a crime under international law. This was approved and ratified as a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on 9 December 1948. The Convention defines genocide as:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• 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

A number of specific actions have been deemed to be punishable under the Convention. These are:

• genocide
• conspiracy to commit genocide
• direct and public incitement to commit genocide
• attempt to commit genocide
• complicity in genocide

Actions do not need to lead to deaths to be considered to be acts of genocide – causing serious bodily or mental harm or the deprivation of resources such as clean water, food, shelter or medical services can be regarded as inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction. Causing serious bodily or mental harm includes the infliction of widespread torture, rape and sexual violence. It is also a criminal offence to plan or incite genocide – even before the killing starts. This recognises that genocide does not just happen. There is always a path which leads to the occurrence of a genocide.

The Path to Genocide

Genocide never just happens. There is always a set of circumstances which occur which create the climate which allows genocide to take place.

Gregory H Stanton, President of Genocide Watch developed the 8 Stages of Genocide which explains the different stages which lead to genocide. At each of the earlier stages there is the opportunity offered to members of the community or by the International community to prevent the development of the stages and stop genocide before it happens.

The stages are:

Classification

The differences between people are not respected. There’s a division of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This can be carried out through the use of stereotypes, or excluding people who are perceived to be different.

Symbolisation

This is a visual manifestation of hatred. Jews in Nazi Europe were forced to wear yellow stars to show that they were ‘different’.

Dehumanisation

Those who are perceived as ‘different’ are treated with no form of human right or personal dignity. During the Rwandan genocide Tutsis were referred to as ‘cockroaches’; the Nazis referred to Jews as ‘vermin’.

Organisation

Genocides are always planned. Regimes of hatred often train those who are to carry out the destruction of a people.

Polarisation

Propaganda begins to be spread by hate groups. The Nazis used the newspaper Der Stürmer to spread and incite messages of hate about Jewish people.

Preparation

Victims are identified based on their differences. At the beginning of the Cambodian genocide, the Khmer Rouge separated out those who lived in the cities and did not work in the fields. Jews in Nazi Europe were forced to live in Ghettos.

Extermination

The hate group murders their identified victims in a deliberate and systematic campaign of violence. Millions of lives have been destroyed or changed beyond recognition through genocide.

Denial

The perpetrators or later generations deny the existence of any crime.

What We Can Do

While the idea of each of us individually stopping a genocide occurring is difficult to believe there are actions that we can each take which will help to create a society in which the development of genocide from the earliest stages of exclusion can be prevented.

Everyone can make the choice to challenge exclusion where we see it happening – for example we can choose to stop using language which dehumanises others and we can stop our friends and family from dehumanising and excluding others. When organising events in our communities we can ensure that we include as many people as possible to ensure that polarisation does not take place.

We can choose to complain to newspapers when we feel that they are using language which creates conflict between people from different races or religions or use language which demeans people because of their sexuality or disability. If you feel that a law which has been introduced or is being debated victimises one group of people you can contact your elected representatives or peacefully campaign against it.

We can also choose to report hate crime where we see it taking place – an important step in ensuring that the preparation stage of genocide can be challenged. You can report hate crime at www.report-it.org.uk – you do not have to be the victim of the crime to report that it has taken place.

You can also challenge hatred by commemorating HMD and pledging to remember the victims of the Holocaust and later genocides. Denial is one of the eight stages of genocide and by remembering victims we challenge denial.

It may seem impossible for us as individuals to do something to challenge atrocities which are being carried out across the world; however there are actions that we can all take which will make a difference. You can donate money or time to charities which help the survivors and victims of genocide and which campaign to protest against events such as the ongoing atrocities in Darfur or you can press your elected representatives or international organisations to remember the responsibilities which are laid out in international law and are designed to protect against the occurrence of genocide. Organisations such as the Aegis Trust, and Amnesty International campaign on these issues and you can find out more by visiting their websites.