UN Report Says Investigate Myanmar Generals for Genocide

On Monday, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar released a Report (full text) recommending that Myanmar’s top military generals must be investigated for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes directed at the minority Rohingya people.  CNN has more on the report.

Congress Holds Hearing On Preventing Mass Atrocities

Yesterday, Congress' Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing on prevention of mass atrocities around the world. Transcripts of prepared statements by a number of witnesses and a video of the entire hearing are available on the Commission's website.  In his opening statement, Commission co-chairman James McGovern said in part:

We are persuaded that atrocities are not the product of “ancient” ethnic or religious hatreds but rather of conscious, strategic decisions by ruling elites and non-state actors to achieve specific ends. Those actors need a reason to commit atrocities, and the means and opportunity to do so. The issue becomes how to change their strategic calculus.

We think impunity is one of the elements in that strategic calculus. If the perpetrators enjoy impunity, this may be seen as a “green light” to expand a genocidal or mass atrocity campaign.

UN Criminal Tribunal Convicts Mladić of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity In Bosnian Conflict

Yesterday, in its final Trial Judgment, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia announced that Ratko Mladić, former Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been found guilty of participating in joint criminal enterprises that committed genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war during the years 1992 to 1995.  The Tribunal, after a trial that extended over four years, found Mladić guilty on 10 of the 11 counts brought against him, including his participation in a joint criminal enterprise (JCE) to eliminate the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica:

The Chamber found that Mladić intended to carry out the objective of the Srebrenica JCE by destroying the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, by killing the men and boys and forcibly removing the women, young children, and some elderly men. The Chamber therefore found Mladić guilty of genocide, persecution, murder, extermination, and the inhumane act of forcible transfer.

The Tribunal rejected a charge of genocide in other municipalities, though it convicted of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war in those municipalities.

The Tribunal sentenced Mladić to life in prison.  The judgment may be appealed to the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

The Criminal Tribunal yesterday also released a summary of the trial judgment and videos (Part I, Part II) of the Tribunal's reading of the judgment.  All the documents in the case, including the indictments and the trial transcripts are available online.  Voice of America reports on the decision.

Pence At Conference On Persecution of Christians Says ISIS Is Guilty of Genocide

Vice President Mike Pence delivered a nearly 25-minute speech yesterday in Washington, D.C. at the first-ever World Congress of Persecuted Christians. (Full text of remarks). (Press release from Liberty Counsel.) The event is sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  At one point in his prepared remarks, he said:

I believe ISIS is guilty of nothing short of genocide against people of the Christian faith, and it is time the world called it by name.

It is not clear whether he was announcing a formal labeling of ISIS activities as "genocide" which would then trigger obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

Here are additional excerpts from the Vice President's speech:

I’m here on behalf of the President as a tangible sign of his commitment to defending Christians and, frankly, all who suffer for their beliefs across the wider world.  I stand here today as a testament to President Trump’s tangible commitment to reaffirm America’s role as a beacon of hope and light and liberty to inspire the world....

The reality is, across the wider world, the Christian faith is under siege.  Throughout the world, no people of faith today face greater hostility or hatred than the followers of Christ.  In more than 100 countries spread to every corner of the globe –- from Iran to Eritrea, Nigeria to North Korea –- over 215 million Christians confront intimidation, imprisonment, forced conversion, abuse, assault, or worse, for holding to the truths of the Gospel.  And nowhere is this onslaught against our faith more evident than in the very ancient land where Christianity was born....

In Iraq, at the hands of extremists, we’ve actually seen monasteries demolished, priests and monks beheaded, and the two-millennia-old Christian tradition in Mosul virtually extinguished overnight.  In Syria, we see ancient communities burned to the ground.  We see believers tortured for confessing Christ, and women and children sold into the most terrible form of human slavery.

Know today with assurance that President Trump sees these crimes for what they are: vile acts of persecution animated by hatred -- hatred for the Gospel of Christ.  And so too does the President know those who perpetrate these crimes.  They are them the embodiment of evil in our time.  He calls them by name -- radical Islamic terrorists....

But to be clear, adherents of other religions across the world have not been spared.  And we will speak for them and pray for them as well.  For as history attests, persecution of one faith is ultimately the persecution of all faiths.

FOIA Suit Seeks All State Department Records On Combating Genocide

Yesterday, a conservative civil rights and religious liberty advocacy group filed a lawsuit seeking to enforce its Freedom of Information Act request for all State Department records and communications reflecting efforts to carry out the terms of the Genocide Convention, to hold ISIS accountable for atrocities it has committed, and to respond to the ISIS genocide of Christians.  The complaint (full text) in American Center for Law & Justice v. U.S. Department of State, (D DC, filed 8/30/2016), sets out in 22 paragraphs the scope of the records sought in its July 18 FOIA request sent to the State Department, and adds that the State Department "has a reputation for flaunting and disregarding its public accountability and FOIA obligations." The lawsuit follows actions by ACLJ in recent weeks pressing the United Nations to take action to respond to ISIS genocide against Christians and others.

UN Commission Says ISIS Has Committed Genocide Against Yazidis

Yesterday, the International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic established by the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a report (press release) concluding that ISIS' actions against the Yazidis constitutes genocide and amounts to crimes against humanity and war crimes. The 41-page report (full text) includes a Summary section which reads in part:

ISIS has sought to destroy the Yazidis through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily and mental harm; the infliction of conditions of life that bring about a slow death; the imposition of measures to prevent Yazidi children from being born, including forced conversion of adults, the separation of Yazidi men and women, and mental trauma; and the transfer of Yazidi children from their own families and placing them with ISIS fighters, thereby cutting them off from beliefs and practices of their own religious community, and erasing their identity as Yazidis. The public statements and conduct of ISIS and its fighters clearly demonstrate that ISIS intended to destroy the Yazidis of Sinjar, composing the majority of the world’s Yazidi population, in whole or in part....

While noting States’ obligations under the Genocide Convention, the Commission repeated its call for the Security Council to refer urgently the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, or to establish an ad hoc tribunal with relevant geographic and temporal jurisdiction.

AP has more on the report.

Congressional Committee Holds Hearing On ISIL Genocide

On April 19, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on Confronting the Genocide of Religious Minorities: A Way Forward. The hearing focused on ISIL’s genocide against religious minorities and the options available to the United States and other nations. The prepared statements of four of the witnesses appearing at the hearing, transcripts of opening and closing remarks and a video of the full hearing are available on the Commission's website.

U.N. Tribunal Convicts Former Serb Leader of Genocide

The United Nations Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in a press release yesterday announced the highest level conviction yet in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from territory claimed by Bosnian Serbs in the 1990's:

Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today convicted Radovan Karadžić, former President of Republika Srpska (RS) and Supreme Commander of its armed forces, of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war committed by Serb forces during the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), from 1992 until 1995. He was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment.

Karadžić was convicted of genocide in the area of Srebrenica in 1995, of persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts (forcible transfer), terror, unlawful attacks on civilians and hostage-taking. He was acquitted of the charge of genocide in other municipalities in BiH in 1992.

The Office of the Prosecutor issued a statement welcoming the convictions. New York Times reports on the conviction.

Kerry Says ISIS Guilty of Genocide

As reported by CNN, Secretary of State John Kerry today said he had determined that ISIS (also known as Daesh) is guilty of genocide. At a news conference this morning (video  and full text of Kerry's statement), he said in part:

My purpose in appearing before you today is to assert that, in my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions – in what it says, what it believes, and what it does. Daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.

House Unanimously Passes Resolution Calling ISIS Actions "Genocide"

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 393-0 House Concurrent Resolution 75 (full text) that expresses the sense of Congress that atrocities committed by ISIS against Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities should be labeled war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. As pointed out in this CNN Op-Ed by Frida Ghitis:

This was one more maneuver in a long-running battle between Congress and the administration. Months ago, Congress set a deadline of March 17 for the State Department to designate ISIS actions as genocide. But according to news reports, Obama administration officials say it appears likely the administration will let the deadline pass while it ponders the legal consequences of the designation.

Some have charged that the State Department's concern is that once ISIS's actions are labelled "genocide," under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide the United States would be committed to "prevent" and "punish" it. However, in a State Department press briefing on Monday, spokesman John Kirby said in part:

[T]here’s a legal definition for genocide. But I don’t want to get into the specifics of it at this point given that the Secretary’s still working his way through his own determination.... [H]e’s taking it very seriously, and ... he wants to take an analytical approach to this based on the best information that’s available....  [T]he argument that somehow it’s being slow-walked or slow-rolled because of the likely pressure that it might result in further calls for military action just is baseless....

European Court Reverses Genocide Conviction For Killing of Lithuanian Partisans

In Vasiliauskas v. Lithuania, (ECHR, Oct. 20, 2015), the European Court of Human Rights in a 9-8 decision by the Grand Chamber reversed a genocide conviction by the courts of Lithuania. As summarized by the Court's press release:

The case concerned the conviction in 2004 of Mr Vasiliauskas, an officer in the State security services of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1952 to his retirement in 1975, for the genocide in 1953 of Lithuanian partisans who resisted Soviet rule after the Second World War....

The Court found in particular that it was clear that Mr Vasiliauskas’ conviction had been based upon legal provisions that had not been in force in 1953, and that such provisions had therefore been applied retroactively....

Although the offence of genocide had been clearly defined in the international law (notably, it had been codified in the 1948 Genocide Convention....), the Court took the view that his conviction could not have been foreseen under international law as it stood at the time of the killings of the partisans. Notably, international treaty law had not included a “political group” in the definition of genocide [it only included national, ethnic, racial or religious groups] and customary international law was not clear on the definition....

 Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

European Court Says Armenian Genocide Denial Protected By Freedom of Expression

In Case of Perincek v. Switzerland, (ECHR, Oct. 15, 2015), the European Court of Human Rights in a Grand Chamber judgment, by a vote of 10-7, held that Switzerland violated Art. 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of expression) when it criminally convicted the head of the Turkish Workers Party of violating Swiss law when he, at three public events in Switzerland, denied the 1915 Armenian genocide.  Swiss courts found Doğu Perinçek guilty of violating Art. 261 of the Swiss Criminal Code which, among other things, criminalizes denying, trivializing or seeking justification for genocide or other crimes against humanity. The European Court, finding his conviction in violation of the Convention, said in part in its majority opinion:

Taking into account ... that the applicant’s statements bore on a matter of public interest and did not amount to a call for hatred or intolerance, that the context in which they were made was not marked by heightened tensions or special historical overtones in Switzerland, that the statements cannot be regarded as affecting the dignity of the members of the Armenian community to the point of requiring a criminal law response in Switzerland, that there is no international law obligation for Switzerland to criminalise such statements, that the Swiss courts appear to have censured the applicant for voicing an opinion that diverged from the established ones in Switzerland, and that the interference took the serious form of a criminal conviction – the Court concludes that it was not necessary, in a democratic society, to subject the applicant to a criminal penalty in order to protect the rights of the Armenian community at stake in the present case.

International Court of Justice Clears Both Serbia and Croatia of Genocide Charges

Yesterday the International Court of Justice at The Hague handed down a 145-page opinion rejecting both Croatia's claim of genocide against Serbia (vote of 15-2) and Serbia's claim of genocide against Croatia (unanimous decision) growing out of the 1991-2001 War in the Balkans. Twelve judges filed separate opinions.   The Telegraph has an excellent summary of the decision:

Croatia’s case turned on the fate of the city of Vukovar, which endured three months of bombardment by Serbian irregular forces and the Yugoslav national army in 1991.... Croatia argued that the “attacks on Vukovar were directed not simply against an opposing military force, but also against the civilian population”.... But the ICJ rejected Croatia’s case, concluding that the crucial element of an intention to destroy a specific ethnic group had not been proved....

Serbia, for its part, accused Croatia of committing genocide by launching “Operation Storm” in 1995. During this military offensive, Croatia recaptured a Serb-inhabited region of its territory known as Krajina. In the process, about 200,000 Serbs were driven from their homes.

The crucial evidence was a meeting held on the Croatian island of Brioni between Franjo Tudjman, then president, and the country’s military leaders. Serbia argued that the full transcript of this conversation showed the aim of Operation Storm was the elimination of the Serbs of Krajina.  But the ICJ rejected this interpretation.... The “specific intent to destroy which characterises genocide” was missing from the Krajina offensive, found the ICJ.

All the pleadings and records of proceedings in the case are available from the Court's website. The Court also issued its own press release summarizing the decision.