Analysis of Rwandan Genocide and Rohingya Genocide

By Victor Obech

Victor Obech is an alum of the Albany Law School Class of 2020. He completed his Master of Laws Degree (LLM) at Albany Law, having concentrated in International Law. Victor finished his undergraduate law degree at the University of Nairobi, Kenya in 2015. He is passionate about helping vulnerable immigrants with legal services. He enjoys research and community organization. Victor also works at The Devereux Foundation, a nonprofit organization with interest in providing support to individuals with developmental disability in the society.

Throughout the centuries, different nations and people have experienced acts of genocide. Even though genocide was formally recognized through the Genocide Conventions, targeted killing towards different particular groups of people started way before that. For instance, it is estimated that the Mongols killed and destroyed the lives of about 5% of the world’s population during the peak of their empire. At that time, there were no formalized laws that prevented or guided conduct during wars, and this led to massive deaths during the early century acts of war crime. The perpetrators were also not formally tried or punished in a manner that would deter future acts of war crimes like genocide.

This paper particularly looks into the Rwanda Genocide of 1994 and the Rohingya Genocide which is currently ongoing. The paper intends to make a comparative analysis of the responses of states and other bodies in prevention and punishment of genocide in the two instances. The paper aims at elucidating the necessary steps the world has made in prevention of acts of genocide, and what should be done during an ongoing genocide. It also analyses the punishments faced by the perpetrators and whether they were of deterrent nature or simply a slap on the wrist.

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To read the paper, open HERE.

The Rohingya in Ruin

Exploring Potential Twenty-First Century Genocide

By Bryan Hum

Bryan Hum is a third-year student at Albany Law School. He graduated from the North Carolina State University in 2013 with a double major in International Studies and Political Science. Bryan is currently a member of the Albany Law Review. He serves as this year's Executive Editor for Symposium.

During his time at Albany Law, Bryan has been an associate on the Moot Court Board, a member of the Student Bar Association, interned with the Office of the New York State Attorney General, and held a field placement with Judge Lawrence E. Kahn of the Northern District of New York. Upon graduation, Bryan hopes to pursue a career in public service in Washington, D.C.

This paper was prepared for Professor Bonventre’s International Law of War & Crime Seminar.

Genocide—a single, eight-letter, trisyllabic word—seems innocuous in relation to the current state of global affairs and off-the-cuff media reporting, both of which are dominated by terrorism, the Islamic State, and the hypocrisy that is presidential campaigning.  This small word, however, packs quite a punch; at least it did.  To those few international lawyers and organizations that champion the fight against genocide it is the “crime of crimes,”  but to everyone else, it is just another “evil” easily grouped in with the current wave of terrorism.   It is pushed aside as just another one of the world’s problems.  While the decline in awareness and recognition of genocide as a serious crime is not directly related to the rise in terrorism and other attention-grabbing stories, part of the blame can be placed on how global leaders and news agencies view the term, present the facts, and shape public perception.

This article will examine the potential genocide of the Rohingya, an ethnic group living in limbo across Southeast Asia, whose people currently have no home, no citizenship,  and who have been denied entry and settlement by countless countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.   Part II will provide a brief background on the birth of the term genocide and its current definition.  Part III will offer background into the Rohingya people, and how they came to be in the situation they currently suffer.  Part IV will examine the application of genocide, as discussed in Part II, to the predicament of the Rohingya people to determine whether they are indeed victims of genocidal acts or suffering at the hands of tyranny.

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To read the entire paper, open HERE.