'A roll call of shame': Brendan O'Hara reviews 'State Responses to Crimes of Genocide'

Activists protest against the treatment of Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese government, London, February 2019 | Alamy

Brendan O'Hara MP

@BrendanOHaraMP

Never again!”… “Never again!”… I’ve lost count of the number of times, particularly in my role as SNP spokesperson on international human rights, I have heard a foreign secretary or minister make that earnest and heartfelt declaration when referencing a past genocide or commenting on an ongoing atrocity. 

And while never doubting their personal sincerity in condemning these appalling human rights abuses and genocide, I have come to learn that when a government minister says, “Never again!” what they are actually saying is that they hope a genocide won’t happen, but they will not take any meaningful steps to ensure that such atrocities never happen again.

Hope, however, is no substitute for a clear and comprehensive strategy – one that this government is still lacking.

In their important new book, State Responses to Crimes of Genocide, Dr Ewelina Ochab and Lord Alton accuse the United Kingdom government – and most of the international community – of ignoring their legal obligation to prevent genocide occurring, and where it does occur, to then bring the perpetrators to justice.

Even the contents pages of this book read like a roll call of shame for governments around the world, with chapters devoted to the Uyghurs, the Rohingya Muslims and the Yazidis – and the chilling parallels between what Alton witnessed 20 years ago in Darfur and what could be unfolding in Nigeria today. The authors give a clear warning that if we continue to turn a blind eye to what we know is happening – and pursue the politically convenient but morally bankrupt policy of inaction and impunity – we will see more cases of genocide in the future.

In my capacity as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Yazidis, I have continually raised the plight of the Yazidi people at the hands of Islamic State, and I have been astonished at the lack of action in supporting a community that has, even by the narrow definition of the word, been victims of genocide.

Liz Truss, then foreign secretary, promised to reform the UK genocide response

In the case of the Yazidi genocide, Ochab and Alton argue that the risk factors and early warning signs of the genocide to come were obvious for months, if not years, before it began. The UK government knew it. The UK Parliament knew it. Yet the necessary preventative action did not follow, and hundreds of British citizens were able to travel to Syria and Iraq to join Islamic State.

Many of these terrorists are back in the UK, but not one of them has faced charges for their involvement in the genocide. To this day, the UK government still refuses to recognise the Islamic State atrocities as genocide, claiming, absurdly, that it is for the courts, not governments, to determine genocide. It will be fascinating to see how much longer this ridiculous line of defence holds, particularly if the convictions of two Islamic State terrorists for genocide are upheld by the German appeal court. 

A few months ago, during a meeting with parliamentarians who had been sanctioned by China, Liz Truss, then foreign secretary, promised to reform the UK genocide responses. She repeated that promise during hustings. 

We’ll soon discover whether she was serious and the UK government is committed to helping the victims of genocide – or whether it was just part of an election campaign.

Brendan O’Hara is SNP MP for Argyll and Bute and spokesperson for human rights and conflict resolution

"State Responses to Crimes of Genocide: What Went Wrong and How to Change It"
Written by: Ewelina U Ochab and David Alton
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

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