Hoping for a better world

December 9, 2018 6:15 AM

Today is the 70th anniversary of the United Nation's passage of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. (Tomorrow will be the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.) 45 nations have yet to ratify it. "Genocide" is a relatively new word, having been coined in 1943 to describe the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, but the practise is depressingly ancient and common. Biblical scholars argue about whether the Canaanites and Amalekites suffered genocide; Rome and Athens both committed genocides. A two-volume Encyclopedia of Genocide is available. The definition of genocide in the Convention is broader than the conventional usage, and Canadians might be dismayed to realize that forcing First Nations children into residential schools probably counts as genocide under the Convention.
posted by clawsoon (14 comments total)

These are all incredibly important documents and I wish they were taught more in schools here in the U.S. I have a particular fondness for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In particular, article 25:

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

This was written by a committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt and the United States was part of the original group of signatories. Although not considered legally binding here, subsequent treaties codifying those rights are; for example, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A big reason I think these documents are important is that when the subject of universal healthcare comes up, a large majority of people here (including physicians) believe there is no right to healthcare. Well, 70 years ago our government joined with many others across the globe to say there is.

Great post!
posted by TedW at 6:45 AM on December 9, 2018 [11 favorites]

Also - another "newish" one - the universal human right to water and sanitation - which is also important.
posted by jkaczor at 7:22 AM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I hate to be overly cynical, but my first impulse was to leave the customary "." as to acknowledge a death. Seventy years on and we still allow atrocities like the wars in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan to rage on. Seventy years later we sit on the brink of global environmental disaster and elect "businessmen" to run the country so they can protect their financial interests by appointing coal, gas and oil industry lobbyists to the agencies that were created to protect our air and water. Honestly, the world today is so ridiculous you'd think 70 years ago our future had been written by some awful, hack comic book writer. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a beautiful document. We have failed to live up to it.
posted by pjsky at 7:27 AM on December 9, 2018 [6 favorites]

During the Bosnian War I was in Mostar for a time (long story). One day a bunch of us were on a panel, talking about Balkan politics and the war. The event was literally underground, in a kind of bunker/club. The power went out several times, and the audience raised lighters with very practiced hands. Mostly we couldn't hear the shelling and rockets falling.

The room's consensus was that NATO and especially the US would not intervene, even in the face of genocide. One panelist added, "Now, if they found oil under Sarajevo, that would be a different story." The audience laughed in that classic eastern European dark humor way. I can still hear that laughter.
posted by doctornemo at 7:40 AM on December 9, 2018 [14 favorites]

Back in the 50s, an internal report at Exxon showed the inevitable result of burning all that oil, was believed, then covered up. Every person on their board of directors since then has been guilty of (hopefully just attempted) genocide.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:29 AM on December 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

Canadians might be dismayed to realize that forcing First Nations children into residential schools probably counts as genocide

Let's drop the word probably. It is an insult to the dead. The historical record and the testimony of survivors are not ambiguous.

Wait, historical record? The Residential Schools program did not end until the 1990s.

Like the Holocaust, every time - every time - I hear or read about the Residential Schools I hear some new horrifying detail. Today, the OP link includes the words "tiny handcuffs."
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:43 AM on December 9, 2018 [7 favorites]

I'd say the term is both broader and more restricted than most realize. We tend to ignore the cultural genocide aspect, as the OP points out, but at the same time many tend to slap it on any large-scale death toll regardless of the intent or background behind the event, which has helped water down the term's power.
posted by Palindromedary at 11:21 AM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Palindromedary: I'd say the term is both broader and more restricted than most realize. We tend to ignore the cultural genocide aspect, as the OP points out, but at the same time many tend to slap it on any large-scale death toll regardless of the intent or background behind the event, which has helped water down the term's power.

The other day I decided to finally read the final report of the International Commission of Inquiry Into the 1932–33 Famine in Ukraine, which I've had sitting on my shelf for a number of years. One of the questions that it was seeking to answer was whether the famine counted as a genocide according to the terms of the Convention. There was not complete agreement that it was. There was agreement that millions of people died. There was agreement that most of those deaths were intentional. Genocide, though, is not just about killing lots of people, it's about "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such". That's why "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" is included in the Convention as an act of genocide. The children are still alive, but the national/ethnic/racial/religious group is destroyed. You only have to read a couple of pages into the Davin Report (PDF) to see that this was exactly the purpose of residential schools.

(Reading the report also made me aware of the December 9th date, which is why this post happened now.)
posted by clawsoon at 12:43 PM on December 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

Canadians might be dismayed to realize that forcing First Nations children into residential schools probably counts as genocide

Canada's genocide: The case of the Ahiarmiut
posted by tavegyl at 1:51 PM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

To be clear on what the U.N. convention says, it probably counts as genocide only if it was done "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part" a group. Although I've little doubt that at least some of the people involved had that intent, given how appallingly racist they generally were, whether it characterizes the program as a whole appears to be ... difficult to prove conclusively. Thus the "probably".
posted by sfenders at 2:47 PM on December 9, 2018

Louisa Greve, director for external affairs for the UHRP, said: “Academics believe that when you look at the progression of policies that dehumanise ethnic groups, you have to say that mass murder cannot be ruled out. We see many, many of the precursors of cultural and possibly physical genocide.”

Thomas Cliff, research fellow at the ANU college of Asia and the Pacific said what was going on in Xinjiang was “a form of genocide, although it’s not killing everybody”.

“The objective seems to be to wipe out all traces of what’s distinct about being a Uighur,” he said. Some people are coming out of the camps and saying ‘kill me, I don’t want to bear this anymore’,” he said.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:53 PM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

At this rate, the U.N. will only gain the ability to enforce actual human rights when more of humanity is off the Earth than on it. The resulting lack of representation will force the wealthy and powerful on Earth to promote a true global electorate to better keep the Martian and Jovian moon colonies in line when they beg for nitrogen. And yes, I can imagine many valid reasons why the rebel faction could not simply build hydrocarbon refineries on Titan.

Okay, so today I learned I'm terrible at staying on topic and today I learned I apparently want to write SF.
posted by IShouldBeStudyingRightNow at 8:17 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Looking back, my comment was unnecessarily flippant, I apologize. I am fully aware of the human rights violations against Uighur Muslims, against Canadian First Nations people, the Holodomor, the Bosnian conflict in the 1990's, the Armenian genocide, as well as the other more recent human violations around the globe. I simply hope things get better. Pretty much everything else I could say was said better by Hannah Arendt so I'll stop now.
posted by IShouldBeStudyingRightNow at 5:45 AM on December 10, 2018

Canadians might be dismayed to realize that forcing First Nations children into residential schools probably counts as genocide under the Convention.

I'm not dismayed, I'm happy. According to an Angus Reid poll from this year, 53% of Canadians agree with the view "Canada spends too much time apologizing for residential schools - it's time to move on." (Full PDF here.) We should be using powerful terms like genocide when talking about residential schools, because the words we're currently using are clearly not reaching people.
posted by ZaphodB at 9:53 AM on December 10, 2018