Fall 2010 Course Schedule

Prevention of Genocide (LAW-795-011)
Mendez

Meets: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM (W) - Room 501

Enrolled: 15 / Limit: 20

Administrator Access


Notices

There are no notices at this time.

Description

This seminar analyzes efforts by the international community to establish effective mechanisms by which mass atrocities can be prevented, starting with the signal failures to prevent genocide in Rwanda and Srebrenica in the 1990s. It examines the architecture of UN and regional human rights protection and its limitations on prevention, the role of political organs like the Security Council in protecting the lives of populations at risk, and the efforts to create mechanisms in the political, diplomatic and human rights sphere to respond to such threats. We will analyze the extent to which instruments of international criminal justice can have a deterrent effect over future violations and under what conditions. We will also explore the challenges to devise an early warning system and the potential and limitations of certain preventive measures. The seminar will explore the legality and moral justification for unilateral action or for initiatives by “coalitions of the willing” outside formal international law organs. The Convention of 1948 on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide forms part of the normative framework for prevention, to be complemented with more recent developments such as the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. Some historical and contemporary situations will be reviewed with a view to determining indicators for when a conflict with ethnic, racial, religious or national origin dimensions seems to deteriorate and threaten mass atrocity. The last class will be dedicated to the analysis of US foreign policy and proposals to involve the US government more effectively in the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

William Schabas
Genocide in International Law
2nd edition
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009
ISBN: 9780521719001

A course packet for this class must be purchased at the WCL copycenter office.

First Class Readings

The reading assignment for the first class has been posted to MyWCL

Syllabus

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