We Need Serious Leadership On Genocide Prevention

In the United States, April is designated as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month and is aimed at commemorating and raising awareness about genocides that occurred in the past, including the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, and the Rwandan Genocide. April was the obvious choice for this commemoration, as past decades have seen significant atrocities being perpetrated in this month. This is also why several genocides are being further commemorated during the month of April.

April 7 marks the UN International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It was established to remember members of the Tutsi community, an African ethnic group, who were killed or injured in the atrocities. In 1994, as many as one million people – overwhelmingly Tutsi, but also Hutu and others who opposed the genocide – were systematically killed in 100 days of the atrocities, and thousands more were injured. Among those, it is estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 women were subjected to systematic sexual violence. These statistics send a strong message. The speed of the killings confirms that the atrocities were planned. The implication is that the destruction of the Tutsi people, an ethnic minority group, was the intention.

April 24 marks the Armenian Genocide Memorial Day, a day to remember the victims of the Armenian Genocide. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, some over 1.5 million Armenians were deported and subjected to horrific atrocities. The main atrocities occurred between 1915 and 1916 and 1920 and 1923, when the Ottoman Empire invaded parts of Armenia, subjecting Armenians to further mass killings. The day is marked only by a handful of states globally.

This may, April 24 also mark the Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the largest armed Jewish uprising during the Second World War. On April 19, 1943, a group of young men led by Mordechai Anielewicz fought back Nazi troops who entered the Warsaw Ghetto to deport its inhabitants to concentration camps.

Over the years, the Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month has also been used to shine a light on ongoing atrocities globally and the serious risk of atrocities. Despite the legal obligation to prevent genocide enshrined in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention) and the political commitment of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), atrocity crimes are too common and are rarely addressed with comprehensive responses. The duty to prevent genocide is never triggered, as states continue to shy away from identifying the serious risk of genocide and acting upon it. The R2P has not delivered palpable change either. Commenting on the 20th anniversary of the R2P, Professor the Hon. Gareth Evans and Dr. Jennifer Welsh, Co-Chairs of the International Advisory Board of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, stated that: “20 years later – with all too obvious horrors and civilian suffering still occurring in Gaza, Sudan, the DRC, Myanmar and elsewhere – it is clear that R2P is still at best a work in progress. It is time to reflect on what we have learned about preventing and responding to the atrocity crimes outlined in the World Summit Outcome Document, and to focus on how we can do better.”

With every situation of atrocity crimes perpetrated globally, it is clear that we urgently need serious leadership on genocide prevention. In recent years, the US played a crucial role here, especially with the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, an act aimed at improving the US response to mass atrocities. It is yet unclear what President Trump’s plans are on the issue. As it stands, it appears that genocide and atrocity crimes prevention do not appear to be a priority for the Trump Administration. Reportedly, with the planned major overhaul of the US State Department, the Office of Global Criminal Justice, which works on the US response to international crimes, is to be subjected to cuts. Further changes have not been confirmed, nor how this is going to affect the US’s ability to play its important role in atrocity prevention.

Genocide and atrocity prevention are a matter of national security. Such work requires resources, capacity building and long-term commitment. It is key that genocide and atrocity prevention become a priority for this new administration and help to deliver the change that is urgently needed.