Is the Genocide Convention a Meaningless Document

This essay will argue that the genocide convention is not a meaningless document, but rather weak in dealing with genocide as evidenced in the case of Darfur 2003, because of limitations in definition which need to be addressed. The convention is characterized as being problematic due to the following grounds, its definition of genocide and its furtherance’s as well as lack of enforceability and its failure to prevent genocide. Even though the statement contains an element of truth, it is too subjective and unfairly undermines the legal significance of the Convention. This paper will consider this claim paying particular attention to the legal definition of genocide, which is described by Martin Shaw as vague and incomplete. First, this essay will examine the origins and define the concept of genocide in accordance with the GC; second, it will address the case of non intervention during genocide using the realist and liberal paradigms, third, It will address the case study and examine whether or not the genocide convention is indeed a meaningless document then conclude by arguing that it is not meaningless but is in need of reform.

The term genocide was first coined by the Polish legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943.Lemkin had sought to give a name to the Nazi programme of systematic violence in their occupied territories, particularly the mass murder of Europe’s Jews.Lemkin was later instrumental in the creation of the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, which was approved by the U.N. General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and provided a legal definition of the term. The Genocide Convention is the first United Nations (UN) human rights treaty later strengthened by the Responsibility to protec...

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...: An account of the Theory of Genocide School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts Australian National University Refereed paper presented to the Jubilee conference of the Australasian Political Studies Association Australian National University, Canberra, October 2002

Ratner, Steven R. B.G. Ramcharan, Payam Akhavan and Delissa Ridgway: The Genocide Convention after Fifty Years: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law), Vol. 92,The Challenge of Non-State Actors (APRIL 1-4, 1998), pp. 1-19

Straus Scott: Darfur and the Genocide Debate: Foreign Affairs, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb., 2005), pp. 123-133 Published by: Council on Foreign Relations

Theodor Meron: The Case for War Crimes Trials in Yugoslavia: Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer, 1993), pp. 122-135Published by: Council on Foreign Relations