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Unimaginable Evil: The Legislative Limitations of the Genocide Convention

Unimaginable Evil: The Legislative Limitations of the Genocide Convention Unimaginable Evil: The Legislative Limitations of the Genocide Convention PETER QUAYLE * Introduction The crisis in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, has surged relentlessly up the international humanitarian agenda during the past year and a half. Its mix of atrocity and manmade calamity is a familiar one. So too, the world’s bleary- eyed, sluggish response. A response made up mostly of words. 1 These words, used to deplore and condemn, have been gradually peeled of their diplomatic patina. Still, even these words seem feeble in the face of physical facts: mass murder, rape and destruction. Only one word has a resolute ring. The UN’s Security Council has equivocated but the US State Department has said it: genocide. 2 The consequent paralysing formulation of moral panic, outrage and inaction exemplify the Genocide Convention’s systemic shortcomings and systematic misapplication. This article endeavours to explore, and pro- pose a possible resolution to, the tension between genocide’s divergent legal and rhetorical meanings. In so doing it is divided into six parts: 1. The Meanings of Genocide, which notes the mismatched meanings of genocide in political rhetoric and legal definition; 2. The Protest and Purpose of the Convention, which reviews the consequences, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Criminal Law Review Brill

Unimaginable Evil: The Legislative Limitations of the Genocide Convention

Quayle, Peter
International Criminal Law Review , Volume 5 (3): 363 – Jan 1, 2005
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1567-536X
eISSN
1571-8123
DOI
10.1163/1571812054940120
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Unimaginable Evil: The Legislative Limitations of the Genocide Convention PETER QUAYLE * Introduction The crisis in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, has surged relentlessly up the international humanitarian agenda during the past year and a half. Its mix of atrocity and manmade calamity is a familiar one. So too, the world’s bleary- eyed, sluggish response. A response made up mostly of words. 1 These words, used to deplore and condemn, have been gradually peeled of their diplomatic patina. Still, even these words seem feeble in the face of physical facts: mass murder, rape and destruction. Only one word has a resolute ring. The UN’s Security Council has equivocated but the US State Department has said it: genocide. 2 The consequent paralysing formulation of moral panic, outrage and inaction exemplify the Genocide Convention’s systemic shortcomings and systematic misapplication. This article endeavours to explore, and pro- pose a possible resolution to, the tension between genocide’s divergent legal and rhetorical meanings. In so doing it is divided into six parts: 1. The Meanings of Genocide, which notes the mismatched meanings of genocide in political rhetoric and legal definition; 2. The Protest and Purpose of the Convention, which reviews the consequences,

Journal

International Criminal Law Review – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2005

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