The @LemkinInstitute reminds the world that forced expulsion almost always is part of a genocidal process, undertaken with genocidal aims.

It is also a crime against humanity and a war crime. Only under very narrow circumstances, when a population is removed for its own safety during a conflict, is it legal. And in such a case it must be CLEARLY TEMPORARY.

In the case of Israel's planned forced displacement of Palestinians -- starting with Gaza -- it is most definitely genocide and, as in other cases of genocide, it is part of an imperialist, expansionist plan, in this case for 'Greater Israel.'

Forced displacement was used in the 'New World' genocides, the Herero Genocide, the Armenian Genocide, many of Stalin's genocides, the Holocaust, the Nakba, the Cambodian Genocide, the Bosnian Genocide, the Darfur Genocide, the Rohingya Genocide, the Uyghur Genocide, the Artsakh Genocide, among others, and now it is being used again in Palestine. It is an old technique of genocide, recognized by Raphael Lemkin, the 'father' of the Genocide Convention, as an integral part of the genocidal process.

Any support for forced displacement makes one complicit in the crime.

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The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is dismayed by the public and official legitimation, justification, and endorsement of genocide by the United States and its allies.

Read Part I in a series on Axes of Genocide across the globe on our website:

Statement highlights 🧵bit.ly/AxisGenocide1 Over the past two years, the world has witnessed a United States willing to do the dirty work of genocidal allies. The @JoeBiden Administration supported Azerbaijan’s genocide against the people of Artsakh and Israel’s genocide against the people of Palestine, subjecting the entire world to common forms of genocide denialism that are usually reserved for direct perpetrators.

@AzerbaijanMFA @IsraeliPM @IDF @StateDept #GazaGenocide #genocide #ArtsakhGenocide

Words matter: "Ethnic cleansing" is a term first used by perpetrators to downplay genocidal acts, and it’s not recognized as a crime in international law. Using this language can obscure atrocities that often meet the threshold for genocide or crimes against humanity. Instead, let’s call these acts by their rightful names—forced displacement, murder, rape—and confront the gravity of these crimes. Take a step toward genocide prevention: Refrain from using the term "ethnic cleansing." 🧵

We at the Lemkin Institute are dismayed and angered by the repressive police responses to widespread discontent in democratic nations across the globe. We are particularly concerned by the apparent weapons and tactical exchanges happening between Israel, the United States, India, Europe, and the South Caucasus in building authoritarian police forces that are quickly eroding representative institutions and democratic values.

Police violence is unacceptable. Citizens of countries around the globe should have their to assembly and freedom of speech protected; police forces should defend these rights rather than act as a state tool to crush popular discontent. In particular, recent incidents in the United States, Georgia, Armenia, Europe, and India have been particularly concerning.

As we have previously shown support for student protests around the world, we reiterate that genocide prevention cannot exist without freedom of speech and assembly. The human rights to expression, assembly, and protest are fundamental to inclusive and equitable societies. These rights empower individuals and communities to speak out against injustices and demand accountability from their governments.

We at the Lemkin Institute reiterate our commitment to standing in solidarity with those protesting injustice, discrimination, political oppression, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

To read the full statement, visit:

Photo credits: David Ghahramanyan and Edgar Harutyunyan

@narendramodi @OmbudsArmenia @oscepa @POTUS @NikolPashinyan @USAID @StateDept @usembarmenia @AraratMirzoyan @MFAofArmenia @TheJusticeDept @DHSgov @StateEUR @MIAofGeorgia @MichaelCJT @OlofBSkoog @volker_turklemkininstitute.com/statements-new…

In 2023, in the wake of Hamas’ unprecedented military operation against Israel on October 7, Israel began a systematic campaign of genocide against Palestinian civilians living in the West Bank and Gaza. By the end of 2023, the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza had surpassed 22,000 with more than 57,000 injured. The Lemkin Institute has issued a timeline of the Israel-Palestine situation and multiple genocide alerts and statements.

Read more in the @LemkinInstitute’s 2023 Year in Review. 1/6 2/6

As Israel attacks #Rafah, the Gaza city where an estimated 1.3 million Palestinians are seeking refuge, most of them internally displaced, the @LemkinInstitute reiterates that the Biden Administration (@POTUS) is complicit in genocide and must take immediate steps to prevent further destruction, loss of life, and displacement in Gaza and the West Bank.

A thread 🧵

Read our full statement on our website:

Read in PDF with hyperlinks: lemkininstitute.com/statements-new…
lemkininstitute.com/_files/ugd/547… The @LemkinInstitute further notes that the administration’s decision to withhold promised
funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (@UNRWA), the largest and most
active UN agency in the Gaza Strip, risks placing the administration in the position of being an
active perpetrator of genocide.

Following coordinated financial threats to UNRWA, and with grave concern, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issues the following warning to several nations about their direct involvement in the intensification of genocidal acts against the Palestinian people. We urge a reversal of course, preventative measures from global populations, and action from international legal bodies.

With credit and gratitude to many scholars and practitioners of international law, read our full statement below

PDF w/ Citations:

Web: lemkininstitute.com/_files/ugd/391…
lemkininstitute.com/statements-new… The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is deeply concerned by the decision of a coalition of several nations – the United States and Germany, in concert with Australia, Austria, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom – to suspend funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). This is a serious escalation of the crisis in Gaza and follows the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) first ruling in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), which many hoped would slow the genocide. Further, it represents a shift by several countries from potential complicity in genocide to direct involvement in engineered famine. It is an attack on what remains of personal security, liberty, health, and dignity in Palestine.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (LIGP) acknowledges this decision may have been taken in haste, or without proper advice to national leadership, and if so we urge a reversal. If no reversal is forthcoming, we condemn the decision to defund UNRWA, and in doing so, we join a growing consensus of practitioners of international law and scholars of genocide in pointing out that this action is tantamount to increased participation in the on-going genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and constitutes both a violation of the ICJ’s recent ruling and of the participating nations’ responsibilities under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (‘the Genocide Convention’). We further warn that withdrawing funding for UNRWA functions as a fulcrum by which genocidal acts against Palestinians will spread from Gaza to other critical, endangered zones for Palestinian life. During a period of famine, to implement either permanent cancellation or a pause of funding potentially puts states that have previously committed funds in violation of the Genocide Convention.

In today’s historic first public hearing in the @CIJ_ICJ for the proceedings instituted by South Africa in their case against the State of #Israel, #SouthAfrica laid out 8 Genocidal Acts committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. Here are the acts as charged by South Africa.

Be sure to follow along tomorrow as the @LemkinInstitute’s Denis Owen Williams follows the second day of public hearings on our Twitter account.

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The @LemkinInstitute has prepared the following timeline to help illustrate an important point from @UN Secretary-General @AntonioGuterres about the ongoing 🇮🇱🇵🇸conflict — that the October 7 attack by Hamas was “not occurring in a vacuum”.

#Gaza_Genocide #Genocide (1/10) It is important to highlight the warnings and condemnations concerning 🇮🇱’s increasing oppression of the 🇵🇸 populations in the months and years prior to October 7, 2023. (2/10)

The Lemkin Institute warns the world about Turkish and Azerbaijani propaganda, which is well-funded by both states and which has had a deep and enduring impact on perceptions of Armenia, Armenians, and the South Caucasus conflict since the genocide of 1915. 1/ The entire world still lives in the presence of genocidal Armenophobia. It has worked its way into scholarship, journalism, and politics. Some of this influence has been bought outright with money and gifts, 2/