From Discrimination to Death: Genocide Process through a Human Rights Lens

Abstract:

From Discrimination to Death studies the process of genocide through the human rights violations that occur during genocide. Using individual testimonies and in-depth field research from the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust and Cambodian Genocide, this book demonstrates that a pattern of specific escalating human rights abuses takes place in genocide. Offering an analysis of all these particular human rights as they are violated in genocide, the author intricately brings together genocide studies and human rights, demonstrating how the ‘crime of crimes’ and the human rights law regime correlate. The book applies the pattern of rights violations to the Rohingya Genocide, revealing that this pattern could have been used to prevent the violence against the Rohingya, before advocating for a greater role for human rights oversight bodies in genocide prevention.

The pattern ascertained through the research in this book offers a resource for governments and human rights practitioners as a mid-stream indicator for genocide prevention. It can also be used by lawyers and judges in genocide trials to help determine whether genocide took place.

The research for this book was predominantly undertaken as part of a research fellowship in the TC Beirne School of Law, UQ.

The Zoom link: https://uqz.zoom.us/j/86528261107

About the speaker:

Dr Melanie O’Brien is Associate Professor of International Law at the UWA Law School, University of Western Australia, and President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). Dr O’Brien was a 2023-24 Visiting Professor at the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, and is a Visiting Scholar with the Human Rights Center at the UMN Law School. The International Criminal Court has cited Dr O'Brien's work on forced marriage, and she has been an ICC amica curia. She has been an expert consultant for multiple UN bodies and is widely consulted by global media for her expertise on international criminal law. She has conducted fieldwork and research across six continents. Dr O'Brien is a member of the WA International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross. Dr O'Brien’s most recent book is From Discrimination to Death: Genocide Process through a Human Rights Lens (Routledge, 2022).