Testimony on SB 188 “Genocide Awareness Month” Adil Baguirov, Ph.D. S.B. 188 Seitz/Tavares, State Government Committee, 2:30 pm, Room 121, Chair: Maag April 27, 2016 The S.B. 188 attempts to accomplish a noble goal – to help remember, commemorate and thus possibly prevent the most heinous of crimes against humanity – that of genocide. For that its sponsors and co-sponsors should be thanked. However, S.B. 188 in its current form is extremely imprecise, needs modification and amendment to prevent devaluing and cheapening of the legal term of "genocide" as well as the uniqueness and standing-apart of the suffering recognized as genocide by legitimate authorities, such as the Court of International Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, the specially-created UN Tribunals, as well as the federal courts of the United States. That is right – only competent and legitimate judicial authorities, that is courts and tribunals, can decide what is and what is not genocide. Not every massacre, war crime and crime against humanity is genocide – but all genocides are terrible atrocities, gruesome massacres, and ultimate form of a crime against humanity. S.B. 188 is ignorant of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,1 by being extremely imprecise and careless with legal terminology. The problem is that the drafters of SB 188 inadvertently mix the four court- and tribunal-proven genocides, such as the Holocaust in the 1940’s, the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995, the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and the genocide in Darfur (Sudan) in 2004, with all other massacres and crimes against humanity - which, despite being gruesome and horrific, do not meet the strict legal test of the term "genocide". This type of mixing and dilution is unacceptable in a legal and academic environment, and falls short for the purposes of lawmaking. Genocide is a crime with a strict legal and binding definition codified in the UN Genocide Convention of 1948, which the U.S. has ratified as a treaty under President Reagan on November 4, 1988, as well as under the U.S. criminal code, Section 1091 of Title 18, United States Code.2 Indeed, Article 6 of the Genocide Convention stipulates that genocide charges can only be litigated by a "competent tribunal," as opposed to personal, legislative or executive opinion. As a voter and taxpayer, I do call upon my legislature to ensure that our state laws reflect 1 http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html 2 https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title18/html/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap50A-sec1091.htm 1 appropriate and academic understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide as documented in the U.S. record. This is why I insist that we be precise, and refrain from mixing and dilution of well- established legal terminology and concepts. As a matter of fact, why does SB 188 call for designating the month of April as a "Genocide Awareness Month" in Ohio? The United Nations General Assembly unanimously established December 9th as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The UN General Assembly chose December 9 to coincide with the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention) on December 9, 1948.3 The UN resolution, supported by the U.S., encourages the world to commemorate and honor the victims of genocide every year on that day.4 Thus, why should Ohio designate April, and not the month of December? Seems like the UN and the rest of the world are commemorating it in December, and the U.S. Government is supportive of that. Why should Ohio be different? Why April, if so many crimes against humanity - whether genocides or massacres - happened at other times of year? Here’s a partial timeline of genocides, crimes against humanity, war crimes and massacres – all of whom have received some kind of international recognition:5 Anniversary of the 1864 Circassian Genocide is held in May. The anniversary of the 1904 genocide of the Herero people in Namibia is in August. This, by the way, is recognized as the first genocide (or crime against humanity) of the 20th century. The anniversary of the 1918 Azerbaijani Genocide is held in March. The anniversary of the 1933 Holodomor - Ukrainian Genocide - is held in November. The anniversary of Holocaust - the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as an annual international day of commemoration to honor the victims of Holocaust. The anniversary of the 1971 massacre (genocide) in Bangladesh is held in March. Anniversary of the 1975-1979 Cambodian genocide (Day of Remembrance) is held in May. 3 http://www.un.org/en/events/genocidepreventionday/ 4 http://usun.state.gov/remarks/6815 5 There is a long list of commemorations of many more terrible tragedies - genocides, massacres, war crimes, crimes against humanity - broken down by months: http://www.preventgenocide.org/action/after/remembrance/annual/ 2 The anniversary of the 1992 Khojaly Massacre - some nations recognize it as genocide - is held in February. The anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide is held in July. The start of the Darfur (Sudan) Genocide is in February 2003, but commemorated in April. The anniversary of the 2011 second Sudan genocide is in June. To reiterate, I strongly encourage greater and more balanced study of genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity by all lawmakers, so that the month of December is designated as "Genocide Awareness Month" by the revised SB 188. Therefore, I recommend that SB 188 be amended, by changing April with December, and instructing that legal and binding definition of genocide are followed, as codified in the UN Genocide Convention of 1948 and in the U.S. criminal code 18 USC 1091, thus legally binding the sole jurisdiction to label atrocities as "genocide" being the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague or a special UN Tribunal for international cases, and U.S. Federal Courts for domestic cases. Our laws have to be precise, clear and in line with authoritative precedent. Ohio should be marking genocide remembrance each December, like the rest of the world. 3 .