Red Flag Alerts for Genocide

US President Donald Trump’s 4 March address to a joint session of Congress reads as a textbook example of what we in Genocide Studies call “perpetrator speech.” The President’s words would not sound strange coming from the mouth of Adolf Hitler in 1933, Slobodon Milošević in 1992, or countless other past genocidal leaders. The genocidal allusions of Trump’s past addresses have now become blatant statements of genocidal intent as Trump directly targets undocumented immigrants and trans people in his speech.

As other genocides have shown us, the Trump administration will likely expand their campaigns of denial, exclusion, and elimination to other groups. It is imperative that the American people realize that the President's speech contained several red flags common to genocidal processes. Americans must make clear to this Administration that they will not accept hate speech and discriminatory legislation or policy. Action must be taken while there is still time to prevent the worst atrocities from taking place.

The Lemkin Institute is issuing an urgent Red Flag Alert for Syria due to critical risk of genocide against Syrians from the Alawite sect, particularly in Syria’s Coastal region.

The Lemkin Institute firmly condemns the massacres launched by the new governmental forces and other militant fractions. Neither the argument for “security” nor the targeting of “regime remnants” can be used as justification for mass slaughter of an entire community.

The Lemkin Institute calls upon all international powers and the government of Syria to ensure the safety and protection of the Alawite community and other ethnic and religious minorities in Syria as well as swiftly carry out an impartial fact-finding investigation to ensure that perpetrators of high crimes are held accountable for the mass killings. We further appeal to the people of Syria to stand united in solidarity and demand justice for their compatriots. Finally, the Lemkin Institute urges global religious institutions to condemn the sectarian massacres and reject violent extremism.

In this holy time of the year for all the Abrahamic religions, statements of solidarity are especially important for peace and reconciliation.

(Updated and Re-Released from February 13, 2025)

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns the anti-trans agenda of the second Trump Administration and warns Americans that the recent spate of executive orders, which are in line with a genocidal process against the transgender community that has been emerging in the United States for over a decade, are meant to pave the way for greater state repression against all individuals and other groups in the future. It is important to consistently and loudly reject this administration’s efforts to isolate any people or groups due to their identities, to reaffirm the USA’s commitment to individual rights and diversity, and to push back against efforts to normalize state repression and violence.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention is without words after the billionaire Elon Musk gave the Nazi salute twice during his speech at the inauguration of President Donald Trump in the United States of America. Musk’s act is a frightening signal of things to come, an offense to the nation, and, possibly, an effort to embarrass and weaken an aging Donald Trump, making him vulnerable to a Musk takeover.

In light of Musk’s important influence on the new administration, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States.

We hope that President Donald Trump will see this threat for what it is and that he will have enough love of country to do what any patriot would do in his shoes: Repudiate Musk and strip Musk of the position and the access that he has been granted, assuring the American people that a Trump Presidency will not serve to empower present-day Nazis of any stripes.

The Lemkin Institute is dismayed by the recent assault on and incursion into the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem by Israeli police and settlers. In January 2024, the Lemkin Institute published a statement condemning the attack on the Armenian Quarter in East Jerusalem by armed mobs associated with an Israeli-Australian businessman, Danny Rubenstein.

It has been one month since our most recent Red Flag Alert concerning Azerbaijan's threats to the sovereign Republic of Armenia. We are now issuing our third such RFA, given Azerbaijan’s escalating rhetoric and demands and its recent attacks on Armenia’s Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces. Previously we have issued numerous RFAs and SOS Alerts for the Republic of Artsakh, which was occupied and depopulated by Azerbaijan on September 19, 2023. Now, as anticipated in our previous publications, the threat of genocide has extended to the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia itself.

Our most recent Red Flag Alert for Azerbaijan in Armenia, issued on 1 November 2023, expressed deep concern with the alarming potential for an Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia’s Syunik Province in order to build a “Zangezur Corridor” to Azerbaijani-controlled exclave of Nakhichevan. The Lemkin Institute is issuing another alert based on the renewed aggressiveness of the Azerbaijani state in the wake of President Ilham Aliyev’s re-election on 7 February 2024. The Lemkin Institute is pleased to see that the European Union and the United States are taking more steps to show support for Armenia in the wake of the Artsakh genocide. We wish to make clear that Azerbaijan is a genocidal state that has shown time and again that it respects neither international law nor peace treaties. To have an impact on Azerbaijan’s future actions, and to avoid yet another regional conflict, the Western powers must take strong and coordinated measures to immediately withdraw military funding and threaten to cut off investments and trade if Azerbaijan does not walk back from its belligerent actions.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Republic of Armenia, due to the alarming potential for an invasion of Armenia by Azerbaijan in the coming days and weeks. Azerbaijan has long coveted Armenia’s southern Syunik Province, which has been discussed in the recent past as the site of an Azerbaijani-controlled “Zangezur Corridor” to Nakhichevan. Considering recent political developments in the region—including the Azerbaijani invasion of Artsakh on September 19, 2023 and the ensuing seizure of the territory—and well-established genocidal Armenophobia endemic in Türkiye and Azerbaijan, an Azerbaijani invasion runs a dangerously high risk of devolving into genocide. We remind the world that genocide is not only expressed through mass murder. As was the case during the recent seizure of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh in September of 2023, genocide can also be expressed through a pattern of massacre, atrocity, and forced displacement from indigenous territory when the ideology behind these actions is aimed at destroying an identity in whole or in part.

The Lemkin Institute of Genocide Prevention condemns the recent surge of violence that has occurred in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. In particular, we are deeply concerned about the ongoing Israeli military aggression in Jenin, especially in the context of advancing Israeli settlements in the West Bank. We reiterate our concern that Israel is dangerously vulnerable to the mass murder form of genocide against Palestinians.

June 12 marked six months since the beginning of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh. While the so-called environmental protest has ended, Azerbaijan concurrently erected an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor on April 23rd. Azerbaijan has used this checkpoint as a means to continue abusing the Armenians of Artsakh by impeding humanitarian aid from reaching Artsakh and restricting the right to free movement and safe passage through the Lachin Corridor. The Lemkin Institute leadership team traveled to the Corridor to highlight the impact of this illegal act.