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The Thirteenth Meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND BRISBANE 2017 PROGRAM #IAGS2017 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS SCHOLARSHIP SPONSORS BBQ provided by WELCOME Welcome to the 13th meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, held at the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland, 9–13 July 2017. We pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land on which this event is taking place, and respectfully acknowledge Elders past, present and emerging. In particular, we pay our respects to the Jagara nation, whose lands lie south of the Brisbane river, and to the Turrbal nation, whose lands lie north of the Brisbane river. The conference theme is justice and the prevention of genocide. This year’s conference brings together a broad range of papers, many of which revisit the two core components of the UN Convention: justice for acts of genocide, and prevention of future genocides. We welcome survivors, academics, professionals, students, artists and members of the community to this year’s conference and we look forward to engaging in open debate and the respectful exchange of ideas. And we welcome reflection on our collective history of genocide, so that we may work together, as a community, to uphold the promise of never again. Dr Melanie O’Brien and Dr Annie Pohlman Co-convenors @genocidestudies @APR2P @UQ_news #IAGS2017 THANK YOU We wish to express our sincere thanks to the team of professional staff at the TC Beirne School of Law for their unflagging support, and to our dedicated TCB Law and Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect student volunteers, Ameera Ismail, Nicola Farquhar, and Anna John. We also wish to thank the members of the Australia-based organising committee: Ms Arna Chancellor, Manager of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect; Dr Kirril Shields, School of Communication and Arts, the University of Queensland; Dr Phil Orchard, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies and International Relations, Research Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect; Dr Deborah Mayersen, University of Wollongong; and Associate Professor Andrew Bonnell, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, the University of Queensland. Lastly, thank you to all the volunteers for their enthusiastic support! CONTENTS Sunday 9 July 2017 1 Day 1- Monday 10 July 2017 2 Day 2 - Tuesday 11 July 2017 18 Day 3 - Wednesday 12 July 2017 39 Day 4 - Thursday 13 July 2017 61 Author Biographies 72 9 JULY, 1400-1700, REGISTRATION King’s College 1600-1745, WELCOME EVENT CANAPÉS AND DRINKS King’s College 1745-1900, PRESENTATIONS AND DINNER Chair: Katharine Gelber, University of Queensland Acknowledgement of Country Aunty Valda Coolwell UQ Welcome Convenors’ Welcome Melanie O’Brien & Annie Pohlman, University of Queensland President’s Welcome Andrew Woolford, University of Manitoba Presentation of IAGS Award Winners and Sponsors & Scholarship Recipients Presentation of New IAGS Boards 1900-2030, KEYNOTE King’s College Aboriginal Peoples’ Hearings on Truth and Conciliation for Justice Lilla Watson, The BlackCard The ideas in this paper are offered to colonised peoples everywhere who wish to empower themselves culturally and to achieve justice based on their own terms of reference. We all live in a modern world and nowadays we are positioned to take advantage of modern technology in pursuit of our goals of Land Rights and Justice based on our Aboriginal Terms of Reference. This paper outlines a way in which Aboriginal people in Australia can utilize modern technology to have our voices heard in order to bring about a more just society in this country. 2030, FINISH Day 1 | 10 July 2017 1 DAY 1, 10 JULY, 0800-1700, REGISTRATION Tower Foyer, Level 3, Forgan Smith DAY 1, 0830-1015, KEYNOTE Abel Smith Lecture Theatre Chair: Simon Bronitt, University of Queensland Conference Welcome Genocide Studies and Prevention Presentation JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz and Susan Braden, GSP Editorial Board Holding Back the Tide? Human Protection and Genocide Prevention in our More Violent World Alex Bellamy, University of Queensland Over the past few decades the international community made significant progress towards strengthening the protection of civilians from genocide and mass atrocities. This was evidenced by consistent declines in the lethality of conflicts and one-sided atrocities. However, since 2011 the trends have moved in the other direction, creating a crisis in human protection that the system may not be able to cope with. This crisis, I will argue, is driven by three principal factors: (1) a significant increase in deliberate attacks on civilian populations; (2) a decline of international commitment to some of the central tenets of human protection; (3) the system’s limited capacity to respond effectively to the increasing burdens placed upon it. The lecture will begin by identifying the trends in civilian targeting before moving on to explain the sources of the current crisis. It will then examine ways in which this crisis of protection might be addressed, focusing in particular on ways of strengthening legal, political and moral accountability for the prevention of genocide and other atrocity crimes. DAY 1, 1015-1045, MORNING TEA Tower Foyer, Level 3, Forgan Smith 2 Day 1 | 10 July 2017 DAY 1, 1045-1215, SESSION 1 Genocide Prevention I W332, Level 3, Forgan Smith Chair: Jess Gifkins, Leeds Beckett University Exploring Resilience to Genocide Deborah Mayersen, University of Wollongong When Leo Kuper penned Genocide, one of the foundational texts within the field of genocide studies, he did not focus exclusively on instances of genocide. In his quest to understand its roots, and the factors that might prevent it, he also examined a number of cases in which a demonstrable risk of genocide was averted. By and large, however, very few researchers have adopted this approach. The vast majority of scholarship exploring the causes of genocide does so through examining the antecedents of paradigmatic instances, such as the Holocaust. In this paper, I consider the limitations of utilising only case studies of genocide for understanding how risk can culminate in genocide. In these cases risk factors dominated, while factors promoting resilience were inoperable or ineffective. Historical examples of resilience to genocide, by contrast, offer insights into factors that have previously been effective in arresting or reducing risk of genocide. Furthermore, as knowledge from genocide studies is increasingly being used to inform genocide prevention, exploring historical case studies of resilience may lead to identifying powerful new preventive tools. In this paper I consider a new theoretical approach to understanding risk of genocide, and a methodological approach that incorporates non- genocidal case studies. I offer some preliminary insights into what can be learned from researching historical instances of resilience to genocide. Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention: Overcoming the Gap Between Research and Practice Ernesto Verdeja, University of Notre Dame Over the past two decades, a number of governments, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations have sought more detailed and accurate models of mass atrocity prediction and assessment. This paper examines the development of the scholarship-policy nexus on early warning and risk assessment models. Risk assessment (RA) concerns a country’s long-term structural conditions (regime type, state-led discrimination, etc.) that determine overall risk for atrocities. Early warning (EW) focuses on short/midterm dynamics that can serve as violence triggers and restraints. Part I sketches the historical development of RA and EW models and discusses several major policy-relevant approaches rooted in current scholarship, including (among others) the Political Instability Task Force, the UN’s Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes, the Early Warning Project, and the Continental Early Warning System of the African Union. Part II presents the findings of current research on prediction. Part III sketches several ways in which scholarship is translated and adopted into policy-oriented work. This analysis examines the patterns of interaction and exchange between scholars and practitioners by investigating institutional and informal mechanisms (e.g., “focal point” training), types of actors, and pre-existing and self-reinforcing networks of knowledge (epistemic communities). Part IV discusses several strengths and limitations in the scholarship-policy nexus, and draws on interviews with scholars as well as policy analysts and decision- makers in government, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations. Causal Model of Genocide Prevention Mark Kielsgard, City University of Hong Kong Genocide prevention is perhaps the most complex issue in genocide studies and the most difficult to accomplish. Prevention must overcome the most prodigious political and socio-economic barriers to international intervention. It requires overwhelmingly compelling evidence a priori and therefore necessitates a rigorous model of prediction. Lemkin arguably allowed for common causative elements to genocide. Stanton provides a processual model through which looming genocide may be predicted but is not rigorous enough to compel international support. Some have called for an elemental model in predicting genocide which strictly adheres to the elements of the legal definition under international law