Author: genocide

On 28 October 2022, the UK House of Lords gave the Genocide Determination Bill (the Bill) a Second Reading and agreed that the whole House should give it a Committee Stage. This Bill is a Private Members’ Bill that has cross-party support.

Recent years have witnessed horrific atrocities that may meet the legal definition of genocide, as per Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention) including the Daesh atrocities against Yazidis, Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, the Tatmadaw atrocities against the Rohingyas in Myanmar, the CCP atrocities against the Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang, the atrocities against the Tigrayans in Ethiopia, the IS-K and Taliban atrocities against the Hazara in Afghanistan, and as Putin’s war in Ukraine rages on – the serious risk of genocide and the incitement of genocide against the Ukrainians.

And, as many of these atrocities are still contemporaneous, and pose an existential threat to the targeted communities, we are nowhere near to having clear mechanisms to implement ‘the duty to prevent’ imposed by the Genocide Convention upon signatory States, including the UK.

A reform of the UK Government’s response to genocide is urgently needed.

Earlier this year, on the anniversary of being sanctioned by the CCP for our actions in relation to the Uyghurs and Hong Kong, three of our patrons were invited, with the other sanctioned Parliamentarians, to a meeting at 10 Downing Street. The then Prime Minister and the then Foreign Secretary told them that they would support the reform of how we deal with genocide. Unfortunately, these promises have yet to be followed up.

This Bill seeks to enable that promise to be met and helps to implement the duty to prevent genocide and reform the inadequate approach of the UK Government by introducing two basic mechanisms:

First, in Clause 1, the Bill empowers victims by way of equipping a person or group belonging to a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, or an organisation representing such a person or group, with the power to apply to a court for a preliminary determination that there is a serious risk of genocide or that genocide is being or has been committed.

Secondly, in Clause 4 the Bill ensures checks and balances, transparency and oversight over our government responses to genocide globally by way of expanding the already existing mechanism for genocide responses in Section 3 of the Trade Act 2021.

During the House of Lords debate a former FCDO Minister said: ‘The Government’s long-standing policy is that genocide is left to international judicial systems; I articulated that policy from the Dispatch Box when I was an FCDO Minister. However, I was uncomfortable with that policy at the time, and no longer believe it to be correct. We are not seeing it working, because the UK does not have any formal mechanism that allows for the consideration and recognition of mass atrocities that meet the threshold of genocide.’

And UK former Ambassador to the United Nations said: ‘As someone whose conscience was scarred by sitting as Britain’s representative on the UN Security Council during the Rwanda and Srebrenica genocides, I say that this excuse—that is what it is—is shameful… I would call it a Catch-22: a convoluted way of ensuring that nothing is done to determine whether a genocide is taking place, even when we know that it is.’

The full debate may be read at: https://www.davidalton.net/2022/10/28/genocide-determination-bill-given-a-second-reading-in-the-house-of-lords-as-peers-agree-to-commit-it-to-a-committee-of-the-whole-house-for-further-consideration-full-debate/ Or watched at: https://youtu.be/pP7MIZsGhMQ

The all-party Genocide Determination Bill is a crucial first step to reform the UK Government’s responses to genocide.

Watch the speech by Lord Alton here: https://www.davidalton.net/2022/10/28/genocide-determination-bill-given-a-second-reading-in-the-house-of-lords-as-peers-agree-to-commit-it-to-a-committee-of-the-whole-house-for-further-consideration-full-debate/

The Coalition for Genocide Response welcomes the decision of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to proceed with an investigation into alleged crimes, under the jurisdiction of the Court, in relation to the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, having been authorised by the ICC Appeals Chamber in March 2020. 

As announced by the Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan QC, the investigation will focus on the actions of the Taliban and Islamic State of Khoroson (ISIS-K) in Afghanistan.

The Coalition for Genocide Response welcomes the investigations into the crimes, especially as recent months have seen evidence and serious risk of atrocity crimes, including of genocide against the Hazara community. 

Considering the recent developments in Afghanistan, and the Taliban and ISIS-K’s legacy of atrocity crimes that have flourished in impunity for years, this focus is justified. This prioritisation is further affirmed by the limited resources of the ICC.

The ICC’s mandate to prosecute high-level perpetrators where States remain unable or unwilling is one that should be applied consistently and without fear or favour: as such it must not neglect the crimes of other alleged perpetrators in the region including nationals of non-States Parties in Afghanistan at the relevant time. The ICC ought to consider atrocities allegedly perpetrated by other actors when the situation allows.

Join the new initiative to #BringBackTheYazidis.

Contact us if you wish to sign the below statement.

We, the undersigned individuals and organisations, write respectfully to urge you to take decisive steps to locate the 2,763 Yazidi women and children who have been victims of forced or involuntary disappearances and missing for seven years. There are decisive steps that the international community could, and must, take to aid the discovery and safe return of these persons. We have a moral imperative to offer whatever leadership and support we can to end this horrific situation. 

As many governments and international institutions recognised, Daesh’s murderous actions against the Yazidis constituted genocide and crimes against humanity. Their 2014 attacks on Sinjar and the Ninevah Plains forced thousands of people to flee. Thousands more were abducted: boys forced to become child soldiers, and women and children sold into sex slavery. The number of those killed by Daesh is still not known. Mass graves continue to be discovered.  

Seven years after the genocide, it is a travesty that the Yazidi women and children remain missing and their fate unknown. If they are alive, they continue to be enslaved and subjected to daily abuse. Despite findings of genocide and repeated pronouncements expressing concern for Yazidis, the international community has failed to organise any effort to locate these kidnapped individuals.

We respectfully ask that you, individually and together, take the initiative to organise a search for the missing Yazidi women and children.  We understand many of the missing may have perished, but we have a moral responsibility to find the living and provide closure to the families of those murdered.  Therefore, we call upon you to work together with allies to ensure that the missing Yazidi women and children are accounted for, partnering with like minded governments, the United Nations, the Yazidi community as well as NGOs and experts. 

While the situation is complex, there are concrete actions that would aid the search and make a substantial difference for those who are still trapped, and their families. Therefore, we call upon you to: 

• Work with partners to conduct an official search to identify the whereabouts of the missing women and children, including in the Al-Hol camp in Syria where many are believed to be held;
• Work with local partners to free all Yazidi women and children who are alive and ensure that the remains of those killed are returned to their families and given a dignified and honourable burial. 

Now is the time to put action to words. While Yazidis face many challenges, organising a search for kidnapped women and children is tangible, workable, achievable, and long overdue. We call upon you to demonstrate the moral leadership and courage necessary to push global action in the face of genocide.

Should you have any questions, please contact Dr Ewelina U Ochab ([email protected]), Knox Thames ([email protected]), Pari Ibrahim ([email protected]), Abid Shamdeen ([email protected]).

Yours sincerely,

….

On 10 August 2021, the Coalition for Genocide Response joined over 90 international organisations in an open letter to the Biden Administration calling for the formal recognition of the atrocities against the Rohingyas as genocide and crimes against humanity.

As the letter states:

‘A Rohingya genocide determination would … demonstrate a commitment to evidence-based accountability as the struggle for a truly inclusive and representative democratic Myanmar continues.

A determination would also help to ensure continued international attention on the plight of the Rohingya, while enabling the United States to mobilise additional diplomatic and economic pressure on Myanmar to shift its behaviour. This attention could offer a measure of protection for the Rohingya and others in Myanmar. It would also represent an expression of solidarity with the governments of Bangladesh and other refugee hosting countries, signalling the United States is committed both to accountability and supporting conditions for safe and voluntary return when conditions so permit.’

Read the full letter here

Commenting upon the joint initiative, Dr Ewelina Ochab, the co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response, said: ‘We must remember that this genocide is not over and the Rohingyas in Myanmar continue to be at risk. Leadership is urgently needed. Global action is urgently needed. We shall not wait until this genocide materializes in whole. We must name it for what it is and act.’

Read the full article here