Global IssuesA Responsibility to Prevent Genocide
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 12 (IPS) - Almost 70 years since the Genocide Convention was adopted, the international community still faces a continued and growing risk of genocide.
On the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide, the UN launched an appeal for member states to ratify the 1948 convention by the end of 2018.
"Genocide does not happen by accident; it is deliberate, with warning signs and precursors," said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"Often it is the culmination of years of exclusion, denial of human rights and other wrongs. Since genocide can take place in times of war and in times of peace, we must be ever-vigilant," he continued.
The Secretary-General's Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng echoed similar sentiments, stating: "It is our inaction, our ineffectiveness in addressing the warning signs, that allows it to become a reality. A reality where people are dehumanized and persecuted for who they are, or who they represent. A reality of great suffering, cruelty, and of inhumane acts that have at the basis unacceptable motivations."
The Convention defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group." This includes not only killing members of the group, but also causing serious bodily or mental harm and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Despite the comprehensive definition of genocide in the Convention, genocide has recurred multiple times, Guterres said.
"We are still reacting rather than preventing, and acting only when it is often too late. We must do more to respond early and keep violence from escalating," he said.
One such case may be Myanmar.
After a year of investigation, the organization Fortify Rights and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum said that there is "mounting" evidence that points to a genocide against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar with Burmese Army soldiers, police, and civilians as the major perpetrators.
"The Rohingya have suffered attacks and systematic violations for decades, and the international community must not fail them now when their very existence in Myanmar is threatened," said Cameron Hudson from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
"Without urgent action, there's a high risk of more mass atrocities," he continued.
More than half of Myanmar's one million Rohingya have fled the country since violence reignited in August.
"They tried to kill us all," 25-year-old Mohammed Rafiq from Maungdaw Township told researchers when recalling how soldiers gathered villagers and opened fire on them on 30 August.
"There was nothing left. People were shot in the chest, stomach, legs, face, head, everywhere."
Eyewitness testimony revealed that Rohingya civilians were burned alive, women and girls raped, and men and boys arrested en masse.
"These crimes thrive on impunity and inaction…condemnations aren't enough," said Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights Matthew Smith.
The government's strict restrictions on Rohingya's daily lives also point to signs of genocide.
In 2013, authorities placed a two-child limit on Rohingya couples in two predominantly Muslim townships in Rakhine State.
Others have come forward to claim that the crisis in Myanmar may constitute genocide such as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein and the British parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Considering Rohingyas' self-identify as a distinct ethnic group with their own language and culture - and are also deemed by the perpetrators themselves as belonging to a different ethnic, national, racial or religious group - given all of this, can anyone rule out that elements of genocide may be present?" al-Hussein asked.
Though the UN Human Rights Council recently condemned the systematic and gross violations of human rights in Myanmar, the Security Council has failed to act on the crisis.
As the UN appeals for the remaining 45 member states to ratify the Genocide Convention, what about nations like Myanmar who are already party to the document?
The Convention requires all states to take action to prevent and punish genocide. Not only Myanmar, but the entire international community has failed to protect Rohingya civilians from mass atrocities.
This failure suggests that the international community may need to consider additional mechanisms to address and prevent genocide.
To date, a total of 149 member states have ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
© Inter Press Service (2017) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service