How to Hide a Genocide: Modern/Colonial International Law and the Construction of Impunity

This article engages with the theory of modernity/coloniality to argue that international actors and institutions have narrowed the legal definition of genocide driving it away from Raphael Lemkin’s original concept. In so doing, the current legal definition allows states to hide their genocides with relative ease, since proving them becomes exceedingly difficult. To make this point, the article looks at Raphael Lemkin’s intervention in the US’ ratification process of the Genocide Convention; the ICRC’s Medical Mission to Brazil’s 1971 Report on Indigenous “acculturation”; and the caselaw of international tribunals with regards to the Former Yugoslavia. The article concludes by analysing how the resulting legal regime is currently failing to address the genocide in Gaza.

Link to paper.

About the Speaker: Dr. Alonso Gurmendi is Fellow in Human Rights at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Alonso’s work focuses on the history of the international regulation of war and political violence, from a postcolonial perspective. His latest book, Conflicto Armado en el Perú: La Época del Terrorismo bajo el Derecho Internacional (University of the Pacific Press, 2019) explores the role of international humanitarian law in post-conflict political discourses in Peru. Prior to joining LSE, Alonso worked at King’s College London, Oxford University, the University of Michigan, and the University of the Pacific. He is a contributing editor for the international law blog Opinio Juris and a member of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force.

Image credit: Freepik
 

Event Link

Register to attend in person