Raphaël Lemkin, Creator of the Concept of Genocide:
A World History Perspective
Author: John Docker
The Australian National University
Humanities Research Vol XVI. No. 2. 2010
Genocide is
one of those rare concepts whose author and
inception can be precisely specified and dated. The
term was created by the brilliant Polish-Jewish and
later American jurist Raphaël Lemkin (1900–59) in
‘Genocide’ in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe:
Laws of occupation, analysis of government,
proposals for redress, published in the United
States in 1944. Lemkin was also the prime mover
in the discussions that led to the 1948 UN
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide. The concept was immediately
recognised worldwide as of contemporary significance
and future importance, for it called attention to
humanity at its limits. It is a major concept in
international law, for its framework of group
experience and rights challenges both a stress on
the individual as the subject of law and the
exclusive jurisdiction of modern nation-states
Archive of the Fourth Russell Tribunal. The complete
archive of the tribunal held in Rotterdam in
November 1980, with detailed evidence, official
reports, legal documents and testimony pertaining to
47 cases, with indices for tribes and countries.
Rights of indigenous peoples The rights of
indigenous peoples became the subject of discussion
on an international level in the early 1970s. The
Fourth Russell Tribunal was one of the major
conferences in this framework. The members of the
jury met in the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands,
in November, 1980, to consider alleged violations of
the rights of the Indians in the Americas. Of the 47
cases submitted to the tribunal, 14 were accepted
for presentation by witnesses, experts, and
documentation. Many other documents and statements
were presented as well, including some by indigenous
peoples of other continents. More than 100
representatives of indigenous organisations
participated in the sessions of the tribunal, coming
from as far away as Bolivia, Canada, and New
Zealand.
The Fourth Russell Tribunal took place in Rotterdam,
Holland between November 24 and 30, 1980. This
Tribunal is under the direction of the Russell
Foundation, which is a private organization. It is
not a formal court of law, but does operate like
one. The Tribunal heard 14 cases and a large number
of short presentations and declarations.
The Governments of Canada and Ontario were accused
of systematic economic, social, political and
cultural genocide. One speaker, stated that the
government was guilty of systematic genocide and
that genocide "slowly through poisoning is just as
bad as through an H-bomb".
Otilia Lux de Coti, member of
Congress of the Republic of Guatemala
Vice-President of the United Nations Permanent Forum
on
Indigenous Issues (2002-2007).
The
Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) was
established through the Accord of Oslo on 23 June
1994, in order to clarify with objectivity, equity
and impartiality, the human rights violations and
acts of violence connected with the armed
confrontation that caused suffering among the
Guatemalan people. The Commission was not
established to judge – that is the function of the
courts of law – but rather to clarify the history of
the events of more than three decades of fratricidal
war.
Little Matter of Genocide
Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492 to the Present
Ward Churchill
City Lights Booksellers & Publishers
Ward Churchill has achieved an unparalleled
reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of
indigenous issues in North America. Here, he
explores the history of holocaust and denial in this
hemisphere, beginning with the arrival of Columbus
and continuing on into the present.
He frames the matter by examining both "revisionist"
denial of the nazi-perpatrated Holocaust and the
opposing claim of its exclusive "uniqueness," using
the full scope of what happened in Europe as a
backdrop against which to demonstrate that genocide
is precisely what has been-and still is-carried out
against the American Indians.
Held in
Durban, South Africa, under UN auspices, from 31 August
until 8 September 2001. Former
Irish president
Mary Robinson, then the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, presided as Secretary-General.
Rigoberta Menchú Tum
Premio Nobel de la Paz 1992
Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
The Phantom of Racism
Racism and Indigenous Peoples
"Racism has historically been a
banner to justify the enterprises of expansion,
conquest, colonization and domination and has walked hand in
hand
with intolerance, injustice and violence." Rigoberta Menchú Tum,
Guatemalan Indigenous Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,
"The Problem of Racism on the Threshold of the 21st
Century". "Doctrines of Dispossession" -
Racism against Indigenous peoples
Historians and academics agree that the colonization of the
New World saw extreme expressions of racism - massacres,
forced-march relocations, the "Indian wars", death by
starvation and disease. Today, such practices would be
called ethnic cleansing and genocide. What seems even more
appalling for contemporary minds is that the subjugation of
the native peoples of the New World was legally sanctioned.
"Laws" of "discovery", "conquest" and "terra nullius" made
up the "doctrines of dispossession", according to Erica
Irene Daes, chairperson/rapporteur of the United Nations
Working Group on Indigenous Populations, in a study on
indigenous peoples and their relationship to land. (More)
