UN Genocide Convention: Celebrating 60 Years of Broken Promises

Sixty years ago today, prompted by the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust and recognizing the need for international cooperation to "liberate mankind from such an odious scourge," the United Nations General Assembly made genocide a crime under international law with the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Pushishment of the Crime of Genocide. Since 1948, 140 nations have ratified the Convention.

The Convention is a remarkable document, for all its many controversies, and represents the potential of the international community to protect the most vulnerable and most innocent. The legacy of the Convention, however, has been remarkable only in the failure of that same international community to sustain the resolution and political will necessary to make the provisions and the protections of the Convention a veritable force against the prime evil of genocide.

Over 3 million people have been slaughtered at the hands of genocidal governments since the adoption of the Convention, and the number continues to grow. Darfur rages on, and many look ominously at the future of Zimbabwe. The list of examples goes on. The launch of the new Genocide Prevention Project later today will feature a report listing 33 countries at varying levels of risk for genocide.

It's so easy to rally around the promise of "Never Again," but the political will necessary to actually fulfill this commitment remains elusive. Why? Geopolitics being as complex as they are, when it comes to the slaughter of millions of innocent men, women, and children, what could possibly be so important that we can't act like decent human beings and stand up to those among us who prove themselves to be the most wretched of human beings?

As I wrote last night, and will continue with later, the release of a new blueprint for U.S. policymakers shows the first real promise for proactive genocide prevent seen in 60 years. It's cause for optimism--but not cause to abandon pessimism. Much stands in the way of the actual implementation of the recommended structures, and we owe it to the past, present, and future victims of genocide to remain ever-vigilant, to not allow our leaders to wrap themselves in the cloak of "Never Again" while remaining complacent in the face of the worst of human suffering.