Genocidal actions in Gaza must stop

The Armenian Genocide Museum. Around 1.5 million Armenians (mostly Christians) were slaughtered by the (mostly Muslim) Ottoman Empire (Now: Türkiye). Photo: Alex Rosaria, Yerevan (Armenia) 2018.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was born after the war in 1948 out of the conviction that everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind. The Genocide Convention was also born in 1948 announcing an era in which “never again” would any person face the horror of genocide, such as the atrocities inflicted by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

These two pivotal global contracts could have set the stage for a generation of human rights in the post WWII era. Unfortunately, while the UN was discussing the Convention against Genocide, Israel was carrying out the Nakba, the mass forced exodus of at least 750,000 Arabs from Palestine. At the same time, the Nationalist Party came to power in South Africa, marking the beginning of Apartheid.

A false start. Shortly afterward, world leaders once more cried “never again” after the Guatemalan genocide. And,”never again” became “time and time again.”

We had the Cambodian genocide, genocides in Darfur, Myanmar, Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the brutal killing of the mostly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang (China).

Mr. Mey, one of only seven survivors of the execution center S-21, recounts the sheer inhumanity of genocide. Photo Alex Rosaria, Phnom Penh (Cambodia) 2024.

As we speak, Israel is committing genocidal actions in Gaza. The same people who gave rise to the Convention against Genocide are now committing genocidal atrocities against their own Semitic brothers.

Nothing justifies genocide, not even the right to defend oneself. The most powerful UN members are, however, incapable or mostly unwilling to change their policies towards Israel. Instead of abiding by the above-mentioned Convention, they enable and guarantee the impunity of Israel. We are, however, not without options. We need to hold our governments responsible. Our actions in elections can bring about changes. Maybe then, politicians will listen.

Willemstad