60th Anniversary of the Genocide Convention: Impunity No More?

Renee Dopplick
International Law Blog Postings
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Sixty years ago today on 9 December 1948, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by Resolution 260 (III). Outside in the hallway, an unassuming lawyer from Warsaw sat alone upon the floor in tears. His fifteen years of effort to name and prohibit the crime of “genocide” was finally rewarded. For the man who asked, “Why is the killing of a million a lesser crime than the killing of a single individual?”, Raphael Lemkin demonstrated what a difference a sole individual can make in shaping international law. The Genocide Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951.

Despite Lemkin’s efforts to ensure legal mechanisms to deter and punish future mass atrocities, the international community continues to struggle with the modern crime of genocide and the adequacy of mechanisms for international cooperation in the deterrence and punishment of the offenders.

Genocide Prevention Task Force
The Genocide Prevention Task Force, co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright and former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, concludes that the most important legal force to prevent genocide is a UN Security Council resolution, “if it is possible to obtain one.” The Task Force was jointly convened in November 2007 by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The American Academy of Diplomacy, and the United States Institute of Peace. Yesterday, the Task Force released its report, entitled “Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policymakers.”

The report makes eight recommendations for U.S. policy:

  • Create an interagency Atrocities Prevention Committee at the National Security Council to analyze threats of genocide and mass atrocities and consider appropriate preventive action.
  • Make warning of genocide or mass atrocities an “automatic trigger” of policy review.
  • Develop military guidance on genocide prevention and response and incorporate it
    into doctrine and training.
  • Prepare interagency genocide prevention and response plans for high-risk situations.
  • Invest $250 million —less than a dollar for every American each year —in new funds for crisis prevention and response.
  • Make $50 million of this amount available for urgent off-cycle activities to prevent or halt emerging genocidal crises.
  • Launch a major diplomatic initiative to create an international network for information sharing and coordinated action to prevent genocide and mass atrocities.
  • Provide assistance to build the capacity of international partners —including the UN and regional organizations—to prevent genocide and mass atrocities.

A copy of the report is available online: Download the Full Report.

Resources

Genocide Convention

Genocide Prevention Task Force 2007-2008

International Criminal Court

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