Today marks the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime and the 74th anniversary of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The latter was the first human rights treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly, provides the first international legal definition of ‘genocide’ and was meant to signify the commitment of the international community to ‘never again’. Today, the events taking place in Gaza have reduced these historical milestones to objects of derision. In Gaza, what ought to have been ‘never again’ has simply become ‘every day’. Over 70,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel’s brutal genocide of the strip and no, the ongoing ceasefire has not put a halt to the slaughter. It has also failed to stop the Zionist forces from depriving the Palestinians of food and other essential aid. Over 300 Palestinians are thought to have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect almost two months ago and more of Gaza is actually now under occupation then when the genocide began in 2023. Meanwhile, the Israeli PM claims that even the West Bank, where Israel has ratcheted up its settler violence, is now also up for grabs.
So not only does the genocide continue but the occupation that it is meant to sustain is actually expanding as well. Israeli forces have now breached new lines, spreading into southern Syria and refusing to give up the lands they now illegally occupy there as well. And, although the UN has established that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, it remains powerless to actually stop it. In fact, this travesty of a ‘ceasefire’ that now proceeds in Gaza originates from the Security Council of the very same institution that said ‘never again’. Western allies, principally the US, refuse to do what it takes to hold the Zionist state accountable, seemingly forgetting that ‘never again’ is a term that implies that there be no exceptions. Although the Palestinians might be the most prominent example of the international community failing to prevent genocide, this is by no means the only one. Glaring failures have also occurred in places like Rwanda and Darfur.
There is also the fact that the international order remains quite weak when it comes to prosecuting crimes against humanity and illegal wars and military actions in general. The countries and forces that tend to break these precepts most often also tend to be the ones that crow about them the loudest, never failing to remind others of their humanitarian obligations while somehow entirely failing to reflect on their own behaviour. The genocide convention, as it turns out, is not immune to the power realities of the world we live in. In that sense, it is like any other law and who does or does not have the power to enforce it or ignore it matters. A shift towards an international order that is better at preventing genocide and other crimes against humanity will thus not require new laws or more stringent enforcement of existing ones but really a change in the world’s power dynamics and, specifically, a more equal distribution of power. Thankfully, that process looks like it is well under way.
