Statements

Statement on US President Joe Biden’s Apology for Native American Boarding Schools and Its Implications for the World At Large

November 25 2024

As Americans sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security reflects upon the larger history of this holiday. We commend US President Joe Biden’s recent formal apology to Native American communities for the traumatic boarding schools that were part of official US policy for over 150 years. “The federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened, until today,” Biden said in a speech on October 26 at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. “I formally apologize as President of the United States of America for what we did. I formally apologize.”

A Note on Recent Criticism of the Lemkin Institute

November 16, 2024

2024 has been a difficult year for genocide prevention, and as the work of The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security (LIGPHS) has gained greater prominence, we must address several recent attacks on the character of our work and staff. Our mission is clear and we hope to clarify charges from Azeri media and from two bloggers for pro-Israel outlets, who accuse us of “besmirching” Raphael Lemkin’s name. We have always sought, and continue to welcome, further communication with any and all members of the Lemkin family. While we may disagree, we remain steadfast in our mission and in our support of Raphael Lemkin’s legacy.

Statement on Genocide and the US Presidential Election

November 4, 2024

Citizens in the USA will be heading out to their polling places tomorrow to cast their in-person votes for US president. While many issues are of concern for American voters, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security wishes to take note of the dispiriting promotion of genocide that has characterized this year’s presidential campaigns. The American people are faced with two main parties that have endorsed genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh and Israel, and one — the Republican Party — that has used genocidal language towards specific populations throughout the campaign.

Condemnation of Ecocide and Cultural Genocide in Palestine

November 3, 2024

Joint Statement from Doctors Against Genocide and the Lemkin Institute

The olive harvest is one of the most important times of the year for Palestinians, representing sustenance, tradition, resilience, and cultural identity. Recently, we continue to receive heartbreaking reports from West Bank villages of olive trees destroyed and harvests stolen, impacting entire communities. Alongside these acts, there have been incidents where those lovingly gathering olives were detained or obstructed.
For generations, olive trees have provided Palestinian families with food, income, and a deep connection to their land. Destroying these trees is not merely an attack on property—it is an assault on life, culture, and heritage. The systematic targeting of olive trees and land constitutes ecocide and cultural genocide: an intentional effort to erase the natural resources, heritage, and identity of a people.

Statement on US Media Responses to the Deaths of US Citizens in Israel-Palestine

November 1, 2024

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has been surprised by the widespread, apparently systemic, dehumanization of Palestinians within the Western Press, particularly in the United States. Nowhere has this been more clear to us than in the reporting on the deaths of American citizens in the region. The deaths of citizens who are believed to be killed by Hamas are mourned as national tragedies; the deaths of citizens believed to be killed by Israel are mentioned, if at all, as accidents worthy only of private mourning. We protest this inhumane and nihilist discriminatory approach to human life, which bodes poorly for all human beings in the future.

Rudy Giuliani’s Anti-Palestinian Racism: Incitement to Genocide and child murder.

— Joint Statement from Doctors Against Genocide and the Lemkin Institute

October 30th, 2024

Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention condemn recent remarks by Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and a loyal Trump confidante, who claimed over the weekend that “[the Palestinians are taught to kill us at two years old.” He made this claim during a speech supporting former president Donald Trump, who is running for a second presidential term.

We Must Continue with Outrage: Statement on Israel’s Assaults on Hospitals and Safe Zones

October 25th, 2024


In the past day Israel has attacked the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Mashrou Bait Lahia (North Gaza) with artillery and a ground invasion. This is one of the last three hospitals in northern Gaza. Israel destroyed the hospital’s intensive care unit as well as its water and oxygen supply. A number of children and babies were reportedly killed as a result of the lack of oxygen supply and Israeli soldiers are rounding up doctors and patients in the courtyard. Israel is currently in the process of destroying what is left of the last three hospitals in northern Gaza as it decimates the remaining population with military attacks, starvation, blocking access to clean water and medical supplies, and forced displacement. Israel instituted a communications blackout over the weekend of October 18, 2024 before ruthlessly slaughtering non-combatants – men, women, and children.

Statement on Threats to Democracy in Bangladesh

September 24, 2024

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention stands in solidarity with the people of Bangladesh. We wish to recognize the remarkable courage of young people, especially university students, who took to the streets over the past months to voice their frustrations. We also wish to express concern about the current political instability in Bangladesh in the wake of the terrible loss of life due to state and mob violence and the recent resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Prime Minister’s resignation, which came on the heels of mounting pressure from protesters and the military, speaks to the deep roots of the current political conflict and also to the uncertainty of Bangladesh’s future. We commend the swift creation of an interim government under the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. We further call on the military leadership and the interim government to remain true to Bangladesh’s humanist cultural traditions and history, to protect human rights, to investigate the recent state violence against protesters, and to uphold the constitution.

On the One Year Anniversary of the Artsakh Genocide

September 19, 2024


It has been one year since the Artsakh Genocide of 19 September 2023, when Azerbaijan invaded the 3,000 year old ethnic Armenian enclave and de facto autonomous state of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) after a brutal 10-month siege. Azerbaijan killed hundreds of Armenians and displaced almost 100 percent of the remaining population. The siege and invasion were characterized by a terrible silence among the world’s powers, including the United States, as well as by the staggering inaction of various political leaders and international institutions, which signaled the start of a new era of “acceptable genocide.”

The Genocidal Dimensions of Israel’s Use of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) against Palestinians

September 11, 2024


Summary

- Based on reports from the United Nations, B’Tselem, Euro-Med Monitor, and other sources, Israel has used sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in a systematic manner against Palestinians in detention, at checkpoints, and during encounters in Gaza since 7 October 2023. The use of sexualized violence against Palestinians appears to have increased dramatically since 7 October.

- Statements by Israeli leaders, social media posts by IDF soldiers, and testimony from Palestinians who have experienced or witnessed sexualized violence, including released detainees, not only establish the widespread and systematized nature of sexualized violence but also document the broader sexualization of the conflict itself by the Israeli state and armed forces. This sexualization alone is indicative of genocidal violence, as it indicates a desire to destroy Palestinians as such by desecrating symbols of generation and undermining the ability of Palestinians to reproduce biologically and culturally.

- The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has identified several specific patterns of sexualized violence that are indicative of a genocidal process. These include: The widespread use of sexualized violence against men and boys; life force atrocities (including ritualized humiliations); separation of families and other reproductive violence; and possible elitocide through the use of sexualized violence.

- The Lemkin Institute supports ongoing independent investigations of crimes committed by the Israel state and military and by Hamas, and underscores the importance of a trusted empirical narrative of crimes – especially of SGBV – to a lasting peace.

Statement on Hamas’s Execution of 6 Israeli Hostages

September 11, 2024

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security forcefully condemns the execution of six Israeli hostages by Hamas militants hours before Israeli forces were to attempt a rescue operation over the weekend of 1 September 2024. The cruel murder of these young people is a terrible crime and only serves to further escalate an already catastrophic situation for Palestinians. Furthermore, Hamas’s subsequent taunting of Israeli families by posting videos of their loved ones taken before their deaths betrays a cruel genocidal logic in which relationships of love and responsibility are instrumentalized to cause harm and to destroy the soul of the group.

A 12-Point Genocide Prevention Agenda for U.S. Presidential Candidates

August 13, 2024

The United States exhibits many red flags for genocidal processes, including extreme political divisiveness, institutional ossification and breakdown, political corruption, dependence on special interests, a highly militarized security sector, and widespread pessimism as well as disengagement from a political system that is increasingly unresponsive to the needs of ordinary people.

This 12-Point Agenda is meant to help US political candidates think about ways to integrate genocide prevention into their platforms and policies.