47th Session Issues
UN Policy on Genocide
The phenomenon of genocide has been prevalent throughout the centuries. During ancient times it was used as a means to maintain and expand empires. It was an instrument to deal with perceived threats and enemies as well as the acquisition of wealth. It was also used as a vehicle to implement a belief, an ideology, or a religion. However, the advancement of technology in the twentieth century has accelerated the rate and the frequency of this anomaly. In the early twentieth century, we have seen the Turks attempt the total annihilation of its Armenian population in the name of nationalism. During World War II, we witnessed the systematic extermination of the Jewish peoples, which later came to be known as the Holocaust, by Hitler’s Nazi regime. In recent times, we can again attest to the occurrence of genocide in Cambodia , Burundi, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia among others.
The heinous and monumental proportions of the Holocaust gave the nations of the world impetus to convene in 1949 for the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The convention defined genocide as the intent to destroy in whole or in part a racial, ethnic, religious, or national group as such, by killing members of the group or imposing conditions inimical to survival. However, the ambiguous language of the convention has rendered it useless, especially because these genocides are committed by or with the condemnation of governments and to appeal by member states to the International Court of Justice seem to be almost taboo.
The United Nations, since the Convention, have been unsuccessful in prosecuting cases of genocide due to the lack of enforcement powers that can be accorded by a permanent penal tribunal for war crimes. Throughout the years, the United Nations transferred jurisdiction to the national courts where the crimes were committed, making prosecutions highly improbable given that most of these crimes are committed by the state itself. However, the recent creation of the International Tribunal to deal with war crimes committed in such countries as Rwanda and former Yugoslavia has empowered the Tribunal to indict and try individuals, which is an initiative without direct precedent.
Another recent development is the fruition, after 15 years of work by legal experts from the International Law Commission, of a draft code on crimes against the peace and security of mankind. Under this code, persons responsible for heinous crimes would be under international jurisdiction and punishment. The crimes delineated in the code includes aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against United Nations and associate personnel. The draft code is scheduled to go to the United Nations General Assembly for decision.
However, even with all the recent developments, Richard Goldstone, head of the international tribunal investigating war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, put it succinctly when he said that the credibility of the United Nations and the future of international criminal law are at stake and if the indictments brought forth by the tribunal and the Security Council are not executed when lawful means exist to have them executed........a message is being sent out by the international community that it is not serious in this regard.
Questions
- What are the hindrances facing the United Nations in instituting a permanent war crimes tribunal and the consequences of its inability to enforce international criminal law effectively?
- Given that genocide causes an influx of refugees flooding to nearby countries and is a threat to regional as well as international stability, what role can other states play in the fight against genocide? How about NGOs?
Sources
- Black, Eric. Prosecutors Says Pursuing War Crimes Essential to Peace. Star Tribune. June 2 1996: p20A.
- Horowitz, Irving Louis. Taking Lives. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1980, p.46.
- Jonassohn, Kurt. What is Genocide?. Genocide Watch editor, Helen Fein . New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, p 23-24.
- Kuper, Leo. Theoretical Issues Relating to Genocide: Uses and Abuses. Genocide editor, George Andreopoulos. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994,p32.
- Pfaff, William. International Court Could Deter War Crimes by Indicting Leaders. Chicago Tribune. July 30 1996, p.11.
- Williams, Frances. UN Sets Out Code on Crimes Against Mankind. The Financial Times Limited. July 24, 1996, p5.