Global reactions to genocide

 Crime against humanity : any act that is so horrific that it is an affront against human kind  Genocide : the attempt to wipe out a race of people, be it physically or psychologically  War crimes : acts of destruction or against civilians that violates the rules in the Geneva Conventions (the rules of war)

 Article 147 of the Geneva Conventions defines war crimes as: “Willful killing, torture or inhumane treatment, including… willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation …or unlawful confinement … extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.”

  Nazi Germany  Nuremburg Laws  Auschwitz  Total Killed – estimated at 6 million Jews, many from Eastern Europe (Poland)

  Wars of self-determination that tore apart the nation of Yugoslavia (along with battles in Croatia and Kosovo)  Conflicts between Christians and Muslims  “ethnic cleansing”  Lack of UN ability to stop the fighting (peacekeepers) – NATO peacemakers  Srebrenica  Total Killed – estimated 150,000

 Dallaire was told he could not take action as this was a civil conflict  Hutus wanting revenge for Tutsi control under Belgian colonization  1994 – Hutu president’s plane shot down, call for massacre of Tutsis – 800,000 killed (including moderate Hutus) in a few months  Media’s role – radio: “find those cockroaches”

International Criminal Courts (temporary until 2002)

 You are expected to discuss the Nuremburg Trials in your essay  You are also encouraged to discuss another example  You can choose to write about the trials relating to  Bosnia (the former Yugoslavia)  Sierra Leone  Sudan

 After World War Two and the discovery of the extermination camps, the allies wanted to know who was responsible and how should those involved be punished.  It was decided that the leaders would be tried (not soldiers)  The trials would be led by an international panel of judges and juries Of primary importance, the Nuremberg Trials remind all of us, in whatever generation, that individuals are responsible for their actions and are to be held accountable for actions that threaten or harm the lives of others.

 Why in Nuremburg?  The international court was placed here as the Nuremburg Laws had opened the door to the atrocities committed against the Jewish people.  Some of those tried  Herrmann Goering – organized concentration camps (commits suicide before being hung)  Rudolph Hess – Hitler’s Deputy Minister  Joachim Ribbentrop – organized deportation of Jews and waged an “aggressive war”

 Many defendants claimed “I was just following orders” – not accepted as a not-guilty plea  Verdicts announced October 1, 1946  3 were acquitted  18 of the defendants were found guilty  11 were sentenced to death by hanging, the remainder received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life.

 A temporary tribunal was created in response to the atrocities committed  Then transferred to the International Criminal Court  First time since Nuremburg and Tokyo  More than 60 people have been convicted and 40 others are waiting for completion of their trial  Convicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity: mass destruction of property, concentration camps, mass rape, acts of genocide

 Milosevic – President of Yugoslavia (arrested 2001)  indictment said he was responsible for the widespread murder, imprisonment and subjection to inhumane living conditions and forced labour of thousands of Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilians, including women and the elderly.  Karadzic – supreme commander of armed forces (captured 2008)  Srebrenica massacre  Taking UN personnel hostage  War crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity  Mladic – Chief of staff of Bosnian army (on the run until 2011)  Siege of Sarajevo  War crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity

 Created in November, 1994  to contribute to the process of national reconciliation  the maintenance of peace  for the prosecution of persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed  Jean-Paul Akayesu mayor of Taba, a city in which thousands of Tutsis were systematically raped, tortured and murdered. September 1998, he was found guilty of nine counts of genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity for extermination, murder, torture, rape and other inhumane acts. He is serving life in jail.

 The Special Court set up jointly by the government of Sierra Leone and the UN  try those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international and domestic law  Some individuals are being tried at the International Criminal Court at the Hauge  Charles Taylor (President of Liberia)  on the run for 3 years before capture  Charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity (encouraged a civil war in Sierra Leone to pillage diamonds)

 President al-Bashir indicted in 2008 (took years to compile the evidence against him)  Charged with acts of genocide (including psychological through rape and fear tactics), war crimes (civil war) and crimes against humanity  Currently still ruling Sudan (2011)  This year South Sudan has separated from the country  Many NGOs  E.g.– George Clooney: Satellite Sentinel Project

 CBC News in Review Oct 2010 (FLV Player)  As you watch the video, consider what a war crime is, and what constitutes a crime against humanity  Remember this is the focus of your essay.