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Jun
13
Appointment and Recognition: Assembly Calls for ICJ Genocide Definition
Filed Under ArmeniaNow Weekly
As US president George W. Bush has announced Marie L. Yovanovitch and James F. Jeffrey to serve as ambassadors to the Republics of Armenia and Turkey, respectively, the Armenian Assembly of America is using the occasion to call attention to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the United Nations Genocide Convention squarely acknowledging the Armenian Genocide as a crime.
The document reads in part:
“The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.”
Moreover, this 1951 document recently discussed by leading genocide legal authority Professor William A. Schabas of The Irish Centre of Human Rights also reads:
Marie L. Yovanovitch
“This was the background when the General Assembly of the United Nations considered the problem of genocide. Not once, but twice, that body declared unanimously that the practice of genocide is criminal under international law and that States ought to take steps to prevent and punish genocide.”
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution of 1946, 96 (I), defined the crime of genocide as:
“Genocide is a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings; such denial of the right of existence shocks the conscience of mankind, results in great losses to humanity in the form of cultural and other contributions represented by these human groups, and is contrary to moral law and to the spirit and aims of the United Nations.”
Many instances of such crimes of genocide have occurred when racial, religious, political, and other groups have been destroyed, entirely or in part.
Additionally, in 1948 the United Nations War Crimes Commission invoked the 28 May 1915 Allied declaration denouncing crimes against humanity and civilization in connection to the Armenian massacres. “The warning given to the Turkish Government on this occasion by the Governments of the Triple Entente dealt precisely with one of the types of acts which the modern term ‘crimes against humanity’ is intended to cover, namely, inhuman acts committed by a government against its own subjects.”
“Professor Schabas has reminded us again of the historic American record of affirmation,” said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “Now the Bush Administration has an opportunity to utilize the confirmation process to ensure that Turkey’s ongoing denial campaign is squarely confronted.”
The 1951 statement is consistent with the legislative history of the U.S. ratification of the Genocide Convention, President Reagan’s 1981 Proclamation 4838 (”Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it - and like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples - the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.”), the 2003 International Center for Transitional Justice endorsed by President Bush, which concluded that “the Events [of 1915], viewed collectively, can thus be said to include all of the elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as well as historians, politicians, journalists and other people would be justified in continuing to so describe them,” the 1993 court decision in Krikorian v. Department of State (where the D.C. Federal Court of Appeals confirmed that U.S. policy recognizes the Armenian Genocide) and the 42 U.S. States that have affirmed the Armenian Genocide.
“Furthermore and in particular,” Ardouny added, “the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey has a unique opportunity to follow in the tradition of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau to ensure that universal principles of human rights are adhered to, and that minorities in Turkey are protected not persecuted.”
Yovanovitch, a career member of the Foreign Service, currently serves as Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. Prior to this, she served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the Department of State. Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kiev. Yovanovitch received her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her master’s degree from the National War College.
Jeffrey, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor at the White House. Prior to this, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad, United States Ambassador to Albania, and three other assignments in Turkey. Ambassador Jeffrey received his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University and his master’s degree from Boston University.
The Assembly anticipates a vigorous confirmation process. The last Ambassador to Armenia John Evans was forced out due to his public acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.
For more on Yovanovitch and Jeffrey, including background information, official statements and press reports, please visit www.aaainc.org.
Source: http://www.armenianow.com
Permanent link: http://www.armpress.com/armenianow/2008/06/13/1182/
