Genocide denial
Encyclopedia
Genocide denial occurs when an act of genocide
is met with attempts to deny the occurrence and minimize the scale or death toll. The most well-known type is Holocaust denial
, but its definition can extend to any genocide that has been minimized or met with excessive skepticism.
Where there is near universal agreement that a genocide occurred, genocide denial is usually considered a form of illegitimate historical revisionism
. However, in circumstances where the event in dispute is not seen to constitute genocide by the majority of scholars, the use of the term may be an ad hominem
by those who argue that a genocide occurred.
The extremely serious nature of the crime of genocide, along with the terrible reputation it creates, and potential repercussions that may come against a nation as a result of committing it, ensures that whenever genocide is charged, there will be parties that attempt to avoid or divert blame. However as Larissa van den Herik has pointed out there is a gap in international law that encourages the use of the charge of genocide when other charges might be more appropriate "The only way for Bosnia to go to the ICJ
was to allege genocide. There is no Crimes against Humanity Convention providing for jurisdiction for the ICJ"
The European Union's executive Commission
proposed a European Union wide anti-racism law in 2001, which included an offense of genocide denial, but European Union states failed to agree on the balance between prohibiting racism and freedom of expression. After six years of wrangling a watered down compromise was reached in 2007 giving states freedom to implement the legislation as they saw fit.
rests on the techniques used to write such histories. Accuracy and revision are central to historical scholarship
. As in any academic discipline, historians' papers are submitted to peer review
. Instead of submitting their work to the challenges of peer review, illegitimate revisionists rewrite history to support an agenda, often political, using any number of techniques and logical fallacies to obtain their results.
Richard Evans
describes the difference thus:
George Orwell
writes in 'Notes on Nationalism' that
Israel Charney, Executive Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Israel
, describes genocide denial by putting it into the following categories:
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
is met with attempts to deny the occurrence and minimize the scale or death toll. The most well-known type is Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
, but its definition can extend to any genocide that has been minimized or met with excessive skepticism.
Where there is near universal agreement that a genocide occurred, genocide denial is usually considered a form of illegitimate historical revisionism
Historical revisionism (negationism)
Historical revisionism is either the legitimate scholastic re-examination of existing knowledge about a historical event, or the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favourable light. For the former, i.e. the academic pursuit, see...
. However, in circumstances where the event in dispute is not seen to constitute genocide by the majority of scholars, the use of the term may be an ad hominem
Ad hominem
An ad hominem , short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it...
by those who argue that a genocide occurred.
The extremely serious nature of the crime of genocide, along with the terrible reputation it creates, and potential repercussions that may come against a nation as a result of committing it, ensures that whenever genocide is charged, there will be parties that attempt to avoid or divert blame. However as Larissa van den Herik has pointed out there is a gap in international law that encourages the use of the charge of genocide when other charges might be more appropriate "The only way for Bosnia to go to the ICJ
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
was to allege genocide. There is no Crimes against Humanity Convention providing for jurisdiction for the ICJ"
The European Union's executive Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
proposed a European Union wide anti-racism law in 2001, which included an offense of genocide denial, but European Union states failed to agree on the balance between prohibiting racism and freedom of expression. After six years of wrangling a watered down compromise was reached in 2007 giving states freedom to implement the legislation as they saw fit.
Techniques used by illegitimate historical revisionists
The distinction between respectable academic historians and those of illegitimate historical revisionistsHistorical revisionism (negationism)
Historical revisionism is either the legitimate scholastic re-examination of existing knowledge about a historical event, or the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favourable light. For the former, i.e. the academic pursuit, see...
rests on the techniques used to write such histories. Accuracy and revision are central to historical scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
. As in any academic discipline, historians' papers are submitted to peer review
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
. Instead of submitting their work to the challenges of peer review, illegitimate revisionists rewrite history to support an agenda, often political, using any number of techniques and logical fallacies to obtain their results.
Richard Evans
Richard Evans
-Literary figures:*Richard J. Evans , English historian on the subject of Germany before and during World War II*Richard Paul Evans , American author of books with Christian themes; best known for 1995's The Christmas Box...
describes the difference thus:
Writing on genocide denial in general
Gregory H. Stanton, formerly of the US State Department and the founder of Genocide Watch, lists denial as the final stage of genocide development:George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
writes in 'Notes on Nationalism' that
Israel Charney, Executive Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, describes genocide denial by putting it into the following categories:
Notable genocide denials by individuals and non government organisations
- In February 2006 David IrvingDavid IrvingDavid John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
was imprisoned in AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
for Holocaust denial, he served 13 months in prison before being released on probation. - Bernard LewisBernard LewisBernard Lewis, FBA is a British-American historian, scholar in Oriental studies, and political commentator. He is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University...
was fined one franc by a French court for denying the Armenian genocideDenial of the Armenian GenocideThe denial of the Armenian Genocide is the assertion that the Armenian Genocide did not occur in the manner or to the extent described by scholarship...
in a November 1993 Le Monde article. - David CampbellDavid Campbell (academic)David Campbell , Professor of Cultural and Political Geography in the Department of Geography at Durham University in the UK. He also serves as Associate Director for the Durham Centre for Advanced Photography Studies...
has written of the now defunct British magazine Living MarxismLiving MarxismLiving Marxism was a British magazine, originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the British Revolutionary Communist Party . It was later rebranded as LM and folded in March 2000 following an adverse ruling in a libel lawsuit brought by the British news corporation, Independent Television News...
that "LM’s intentions are clear from the way they have sought to publicize accounts of contemporary atrocities which suggest they were certainly not genocidal (as in the case of RwandaRwandan GenocideThe Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
), and perhaps did not even occur (as in the case of the murder of nearly 8,000 at SrebrenicaSrebrenica massacreThe Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
)." Chris McGreal writing in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on 20 March 2000, stated that Fiona Fox writing under a pseudonym had contributed an article to Living Marxism which was part of a campaign by Living Marxism that denied that the event which occurred in Rwanda was a genocide. - Scott Jaschik has stated that Justin McCarthyJustin McCarthy (American historian)Justin A. McCarthy is an American demographer, professor of history at the University of Louisville, in Louisville, Kentucky. He holds an honorary doctorate from Boğaziçi University, Turkey, and is a board member of the Institute of Turkish Studies...
, is one of two scholars "most active on promoting the view that no [Armenian] genocide took place". He was one of four scholars who participated in a controversial debate hosted by PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
about the genocide. - Shimon PeresShimon PeresGCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, President of IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, has been quoted as having said: "We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide." In response to criticism of the comments, the Israeli Foreign Ministry later clarified, "The minister absolutely did not say, as the Turkish news agency alleged, 'What the Armenians underwent was a tragedy, not a genocide.'" - Darko Trifunovic is an author of the Report about Case SrebrenicaReport about Case Srebrenica-Reactions:After the report was published on 3 September 2002, it was condemned by a wide variety of Bosnian and international figures. A spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia told Radio Free Europe that "any claim that the number of victims after the fall of...
, which was commissioned by the government of the Republika SrpskaRepublika SrpskaRepublika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaThe International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) reviewed the report and concluded that it "represent[ed] one of the worst examples of revisionism in relation to the mass executions of Bosnian Muslims committed in Srebrenica in July 1995". After the report was published on 3 September 2002, it provoked outrage and condemnation by a wide variety of Balkan and international figures, individuals and organizations. - Samuel WeemsSamuel WeemsSamuel A. Weems was the writer of the book Armenia: The Secrets of a "Christian" Terrorist State and a disbarred Arkansas lawyer from Hazen, Arkansas. He was disbarred while holding the office of prosecuting attorney for mixing his clients' money with his own...
wrote an anti-Armenian book entitled "Armenia, a big deception. A mystery of Christian-terrorist state". In it he asserts that the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman EmpireArmenians in the Ottoman EmpireArmenians in the Ottoman Empire or Ottoman Armenians were ethnic Armenian people of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church or the Armenian Protestant Church who lived in the Ottoman Empire...
occurred during a civil war and not in a genocide. - Patrick Karuretwa stated in the Harvard Law RecordHarvard Law RecordThe Harvard Law Record is an independent, biweekly student-edited newspaper based at Harvard Law School. Founded in 1946, it is the oldest law school newspaper in the United States.-Characteristics:...
that in 2007 the Canadian politician Robin PhilpotRobin PhilpotRobin Philpot is a Quebec journalist and electoral candidate for the Parti Québécois.- Background :Originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, where his father Roderick Philpot was an alderman of the city of Fort William, Philpot is a graduate of Fort William Collegiate Institute and earned degrees in...
"attracted intense media attention for repeatedly denying the 1994 genocide of the Tutsis"
- American far-right blogger and conspiracy theorist, Pamela GellerPamela GellerPamela Geller is an American blogger, author, political activist, and commentator. She is known primarily for her criticisms of Islam and opposition to Muslim activities and causes, such as the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Center...
, has denied the existence of concentration camps in Serbia during the regime of Slobodan MilosevicSlobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, whom she has defended.
Notable genocide denials by governments
- The government of the Republic of Turkey has long disputedDenial of the Armenian GenocideThe denial of the Armenian Genocide is the assertion that the Armenian Genocide did not occur in the manner or to the extent described by scholarship...
that the mass killings of ArmeniansArmenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
was a genocide. This was exemplified by their objections in April 2007 to the wording in a United Nations exhibition, entitled "Lessons from Rwanda", about the 1994 Rwanda genocideRwandan GenocideThe Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
, that forced a delay to the opening of the exhibition. The sentence disputed by Turkey was "Following World War 1, during which one million Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to recognize crimes of barbarity as international crimes". As a diplomatic compromise, the wording was changed to "In 1933, the lawyer Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew, urged the League of Nations to recognize mass atrocities against a particular group as an international crime. He cited mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman empire in World War I and other mass killings in history. He was ignored." The exhibition opened on 1 May 2007 three weeks later than planned. - The Soviet famine of 1932-1933Soviet famine of 1932-1933The Soviet famine of 1932–1933 killed many millions in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union. These areas included Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, Volga Region and Kazakhstan, the South Urals, and West Siberia...
that affected UkraineUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, KazakhstanKazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, and some densely populated regions of Russia, has a special connotation in Ukraine where it is called the HolodomorHolodomorThe Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...
. The famine was caused by the confiscation of the whole 1933 harvest in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the North Caucasus, and other parts of Russia, leaving the peasants too little to feed themselves. As a result an estimated seven million died Soviet-wide, including five million in Ukraine, one million in the North Caucasus, and one million elsewhere. Under YushchenkoViktor YushchenkoViktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
's administration, Ukraine was attempting to have the Holodomor recognised as an act of genocide against UkrainiansUkrainiansUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
. This move is opposed by current President of Ukraine Viktor YanukovychViktor YanukovychViktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
and the Russian government, since a lot of non-Ukrainians also died. - According to Sonja BiserkoSonja BiserkoSonja Biserko is a Serbian compaigner for human rights. She is the founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia.Sonja Biserko holds a degree from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics...
, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in SerbiaHelsinki Committee for Human Rights in SerbiaHelsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia is a volunteer, non-profit organization concerned with human rights issues in Serbia. It was formed in September 1994 as one of many national Helsinki Committees for Human Rights formerly organized into the now-defunct International Helsinki...
, and Edina Becirevic, the faculty of criminology and security studies of the University of SarajevoUniversity of SarajevoThe University of Sarajevo is the first university in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was originally established in 1531 as a Madrasah or Islamic Law college, with a modern university being established and expanded on top of that in 1949. Today, with 23 faculties and around 55,000 enrolled students, it...
:
- The state of Australia denies the forced relocations of the aborigine children and the destruction of them as a genocide.