The Death of a Culture – A Critical Analysis of the Concept of Cultural Genocide in International Law
(2019) LAGF03 20192Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Som ett led i att homogenisera den kinesiska befolkningen, har den kinesiska regeringen under längre tid bedrivit en kampanj för att avskaffa Xinjiang-provinsens inhemska folkgrupp Uigurer. Massiva konverteringsläger har inrättats där Uigurerna tvingas avsäga sig sin kultur, etnicitet och religion. Situationen beskrivs av journalister och politiker som ett kulturellt folkmord, men trots begreppets relevans saknar den rättslig verkan då dagens reglering av folkmord endast avser fysisk-biologisk förstörelse. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka begreppet kulturellt folkmord inom internationell rätt. Ett poststrukturalistiskt, kritiskt perspektiv tillämpas i syfte att identifiera eventuella luckor och begränsningar i det nuvarande... (More)
- Som ett led i att homogenisera den kinesiska befolkningen, har den kinesiska regeringen under längre tid bedrivit en kampanj för att avskaffa Xinjiang-provinsens inhemska folkgrupp Uigurer. Massiva konverteringsläger har inrättats där Uigurerna tvingas avsäga sig sin kultur, etnicitet och religion. Situationen beskrivs av journalister och politiker som ett kulturellt folkmord, men trots begreppets relevans saknar den rättslig verkan då dagens reglering av folkmord endast avser fysisk-biologisk förstörelse. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka begreppet kulturellt folkmord inom internationell rätt. Ett poststrukturalistiskt, kritiskt perspektiv tillämpas i syfte att identifiera eventuella luckor och begränsningar i det nuvarande internationella skyddet av kulturer. För att på ett adekvat sätt fastslå den rättsliga status som tillskrivits begreppet kulturellt folkmord analyseras beredningsprocessen av 1948 års folkmordskonvention. Sedan undersöks huruvida andra internationella rättsområden omfattar begreppets materiella innehåll. Uppsatsen framhåller att begreppet kulturellt folkmord exkluderades från konventionen eftersom kolonialstater som bedrev assimilationspolitik gentemot minoriteter och urfolk annars skulle belasta sig själva. Fastän begreppet inte kodifierats finner även uppsatsen att det materiella innehållet av kulturellt folkmord omfattas av andra internationell rättsområden – dels som kulturella rättigheter inom internationell människorättslagstiftning, dels som brott mot mänskligheten inom internationell straffrätt. Men även om denna utveckling är betydelsefull, argumenterar uppsatsen för att betydande luckor kvarstår inom det nuvarande juridiska ramverket, särskilt vad gäller skyddet av en folkgrupps kulturella existens som sådan. (Less)
- Abstract
- Since 2017, the Chinese government has conducted an internment campaign against the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, China, with the goal of total assimilation into the majority population. Cultural genocide has emerged as a powerful rhetorical tool to describe the treatment of the Uighurs. Despite its conceptual relevance, it does not carry any legal authority as the current understanding of genocide only refers to physical-biological destruction. The objective of this paper is to critically examine the concept of cultural genocide in international law. To do so, a poststructuralist critical perspective is applied in order to identify possible gaps and limits in the current normative framework. Firstly, the historical drafting process... (More)
- Since 2017, the Chinese government has conducted an internment campaign against the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, China, with the goal of total assimilation into the majority population. Cultural genocide has emerged as a powerful rhetorical tool to describe the treatment of the Uighurs. Despite its conceptual relevance, it does not carry any legal authority as the current understanding of genocide only refers to physical-biological destruction. The objective of this paper is to critically examine the concept of cultural genocide in international law. To do so, a poststructuralist critical perspective is applied in order to identify possible gaps and limits in the current normative framework. Firstly, the historical drafting process of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is surveyed in order to adequately assess the status of cultural genocide. Secondly, this paper investigates whether other avenues of international law adequately address the normative content of cultural genocide. The paper argues that cultural genocide was excluded from the Convention due to the desire of colonial states to not self-incriminate themselves based on their ongoing and past treatment of minorities and indigenous peoples. Despite the non-codification of cultural genocide, the paper suggests that its normative content is subsumed under other branches of international law – as a cultural right within international human rights law and as a crime against humanity of persecution within international criminal law. While this progress is significant, the findings of this paper suggest that considerable gaps remain in the current normative regime, particularly in relation to the protection of the cultural existence of a group as such. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8999721
- author
- Johnson Petri, Rui LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20192
- year
- 2019
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- public international law: international human rights law: international criminal law: cultural genocide
- language
- English
- id
- 8999721
- date added to LUP
- 2020-04-04 17:00:25
- date last changed
- 2020-04-04 17:00:25
@misc{8999721,
abstract = {{Since 2017, the Chinese government has conducted an internment campaign against the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, China, with the goal of total assimilation into the majority population. Cultural genocide has emerged as a powerful rhetorical tool to describe the treatment of the Uighurs. Despite its conceptual relevance, it does not carry any legal authority as the current understanding of genocide only refers to physical-biological destruction. The objective of this paper is to critically examine the concept of cultural genocide in international law. To do so, a poststructuralist critical perspective is applied in order to identify possible gaps and limits in the current normative framework. Firstly, the historical drafting process of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is surveyed in order to adequately assess the status of cultural genocide. Secondly, this paper investigates whether other avenues of international law adequately address the normative content of cultural genocide. The paper argues that cultural genocide was excluded from the Convention due to the desire of colonial states to not self-incriminate themselves based on their ongoing and past treatment of minorities and indigenous peoples. Despite the non-codification of cultural genocide, the paper suggests that its normative content is subsumed under other branches of international law – as a cultural right within international human rights law and as a crime against humanity of persecution within international criminal law. While this progress is significant, the findings of this paper suggest that considerable gaps remain in the current normative regime, particularly in relation to the protection of the cultural existence of a group as such.}},
author = {{Johnson Petri, Rui}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Death of a Culture – A Critical Analysis of the Concept of Cultural Genocide in International Law}},
year = {{2019}},
}