Genocide: Necessary Government Response

When the international community and individual states fail to intervene, they send a message condoning the atrocities.

Government and international community response to genocides has been embarrassingly lacking. When the international community and individual states fail to intervene, they send a tacit message condoning the atrocities. These messages, whether or not intentional, would set terrible precedents for future perpetrators. Decision makers who have the capability to prevent and stop genocides have the moral obligation to do so.

According to Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide watch, genocide develops in eight stages. At each stage, there are actions governments and the international community can take to prevent the escalation of another catastrophe:

  1. Classification People are divided into "us and them." Governments should develop institutions that "transcend... divisions."
  2. Symbolization Symbols are forced upon members of certain groups. Governments need to ban hate symbols and classify them as hate speech.
  3. Dehumanization Governments need to ban hate propaganda and punish hate crimes.
  4. Organization Genocides, as in the Holocaust and Rwanda, are always organized. Governments need to outlaw membership in such organizational militias.
  5. Polarization Hate groups disseminate propaganda against the "other." Governments need to actively combat such messages and provide assistance to human rights groups.
  6. Identification Victims are identified and separated by their ethnic or religious identity. Governments need to call a Genocide Alert and act promptly.
  7. Extermination At this point, only “rapid and overwhelming armed intervention” can prevent the genocide from escalating. Governments need to establish refugee escape routes with "heavily armed international protection."
  8. Denial Those committing genocide deny that they have done any wrong. An international tribunal or national courts is needed to punish and try those responsible.

Sources Consulted

Sources

  • "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide." Prevent Genocide International. 14 Mar. 2006 <http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm>.
  • "Genocide." Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide>
  • Stanton, Gregory H. "How We Can Prevent Genocide." Genocide Watch. 18 October 2000.  <http://www.genocidewatch.org/preventgenocide.htm>.
  • Ketels, Violet B. "The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science." November 1996.
  • O'Donnell, Michael J. "GENOCIDE, THE UNITED NATIONS, AND THE DEATH OF ABSOLUTE RIGHTS." Boston College Third World Law Journal (2003).
  • Power, Samantha. "Bystanders to Genocide." The Atlantic Monthly. Sept. 2001.
  • Ronayne, Peter. Never Again? : The United States and the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide since the Holocaust. Rowman & Littlefield, Inc., 2001.