Silence is Not an Option: The Deportation of Mahmoud Khalil and the Future of Genocide Prevention in the U.S.

September 26, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is alarmed by the recent decision from an immigration judge in Louisiana who ordered the deportation of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to Algeria or Syria despite a separate order from a federal district judge prohibiting the U.S. government from deporting or detaining Khalil while his case is adjudicated. Khalil, a Columbia University grad student and green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, was unlawfully arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March 2025 for his leadership role in Columbia University’s student protest movement calling for a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. He was one of the first targeted by the Trump Administration’s pledge to detain and deport student activists for their alleged “antisemitism” and “sympathizing with Hamas” in Trump’s January 29 executive order, Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism. Khalil’s case not only demonstrates the intersection between Trump’s crackdown on immigrants and those critical of the U.S. and its allies, namely Israel, but also is yet another nail in the coffin for the future of fundamental human rights and genocide prevention in the U.S.

The future of grassroots and institutional genocide prevention efforts in the U.S. is under attack and inextricably linked to the Trump Administration’s contempt for fundamental human rights. U.S. society cannot stand by as activists like Mahmoud Khalil’s human rights are threatened for calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. If the Trump Administration succeeds in removing Khalil, it will set a dangerous precedent not only for free speech but also for anti-genocide advocacy. The U.S.’s role as an Axis of Genocide at home and abroad must be stopped.

No More Excuses: The Lemkin Institute Welcomes the UN Commission of Inquiry’s Report Declaring Genocide in Gaza

September 19, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security welcomes the publication of the 72-page report (A/HRC/60/CRP.3) by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (COI), published on 16 September 2025, which concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. With the publication of this report, all states are now required by the Genocide Convention to do everything in their power to stop Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. There are no more excuses for inaction.

Importantly, the report finds extensive evidence of the Israeli government’s ‘specific intent’ (Dolus Specialis) for genocide required by conventional legal interpretations of the Genocide Convention. Navi Pillay, head of the COI, told journalists: “The commission concludes that statements made by Israeli authorities are direct evidence of genocidal intent … genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the totality of the evidence”.

It is now up to the nations of the world to take action to stop this genocide, as required by international law. We urge that this report be followed by concrete steps, which have been strikingly absent up to this moment. Israel’s allies must place pressure on Israel to immediately cease its attacks on Gaza and end the blockade. If they do not, or if Israel refuses, we call on the UN General Assembly to use the Uniting for Peace resolution to call for an armed humanitarian intervention into Gaza to restore peace and security and ensure the delivery of much needed humanitarian aid.

Statement on Recent Remarks by ICJ Vice-President Judge Sebutinde

September 12, 2025

“The Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel.” - Julia Sebutinde

On 10 August 2025, the vice-president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda, declared before a Ugandan congregation: “The Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel.” She went further, describing the Genocide in Gaza as a sign of the biblical “end times” and presenting her judicial role as divinely ordained.

These words are extraordinary in and of themselves. But they become quite grave when set against her judicial record: Sebutinde was the lone permanent judge to dissent in the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) January 2024 order finding it "plausible” that Israel’s acts in Gaza could fall within the scope of the Genocide Convention. Her opposition was joined only by Israel’s ad hoc judge, Aharon Barak. She once again broke from the majority, dissenting from the Court’s advisory opinion that declared Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful—this time alongside a small minority of judges. In both landmark cases, Sebutinde’s votes placed her squarely against the overwhelming weight of international law and the Court’s considered judgment. While the Lemkin Institute firmly believes in the value of dissent in legal matters, we also believe that at international courts, dissent must be grounded in the law rather than in religious beliefs.

Julia Sebutinde may believe she is “on the right side of history,” a divinely appointed defender of Israel in the last days. Yet history will likely record her otherwise—not as a decisive figure, but as a cautionary example of how international justice falters when personal ideology and prophetic belief displace legal principle. While her individual influence may be limited, the worldview she represents is deeply troubling, as it risks undermining the credibility of international courts and legitimizing impunity.
Her case highlights three urgent facts. First, that the ICJ’s legitimacy is fragile and depends on judges resisting the temptation to import ideology and theology into their rulings. Second, that international law remains shaped by religious and cultural double standards that tolerate Christian Zionist framings while demonizing Muslim ones. And third, that educated elites—judges among them—can be the most effective agents of authoritarianism when they dress prejudice in the garments of law.

Statement in Solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla

September 6, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention & Human Security stands in firm solidarity with all of the brave people aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, the international fleet of more than 50 boats that is headed toward Gaza to break the Israeli siege and deliver urgent humanitarian aid.

Their courage is an act of conscience and civil resistance against injustice, carried out in the face of global institutional indifference and inaction. To the volunteers of the Flotilla: You carry the conscience of the world. Your determination exposes the cowardice of governments.

We call on all governments to ensure the safe passage of the Flotilla and to protect their citizens aboard this humanitarian mission from arbitrary detention. Above all, we urge all governments to protect Palestinian lives in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in East Jerusalem, in accordance with their obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Statement on the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission: Violation of the Paris Principles and erosion of protections for transgender and intersex people

September 5, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention & Human Security calls on the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) to withdraw accreditation from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in Great Britain due to violations of the Paris Principles and the erosion of protections for transgender and intersex people. The EHRC is Britain’s independent equality and human rights regulator. It currently has an “A status” accreditation as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), bestowed by GANHRI, which is co-funded by the United Nations and European Union. To maintain accreditation as an NHRI, an organisation needs to follow the Paris Principles. The Lemkin Institute believes that the EHRC has violated the Paris Principles, particularly in actions targeting the rights and protections for transgender and intersex people. The most recent example of such actions is the appointment of Dr. Mary-Ann Stephenson as the new EHRC Chair, contrary to the advice of the two committees involved in the appointment: the Women and Equalities and Joint Human Rights Committees.

Statement on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Joint Declaration: This is No “Peace Deal”

August 29, 2025


The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security expresses mounting frustration and continuing concern about the threat of genocide against Armenians in the South Caucasus region in the wake of what is being uncritically heralded worldwide as a “peace deal” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. While we welcome any diplomatic steps that may reduce the risk of renewed armed conflict in the region, those steps must be real and have the prospect of leading to a just and sustainable peace. The current media and diplomatic reception of the joint declaration brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump is a premature celebration of peace while Azerbaijan's recent mass atrocity crimes and consistent belligerence remain unaddressed. In fact, the deal being announced could easily lead to more war and destruction and could lay the groundwork for further genocidal actions by Azerbaijan towards Armenians. Concrete mechanisms to protect Armenian sovereignty must be incorporated into the text of the agreement and manifested in the material world before this peace agreement can in fact guarantee peace.

Statement on Pakistan’s Genocidal Enforced Disappearances in Balochistan

August 29, 2025


The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security expresses its grave concern over the ongoing and escalating human security crisis in Balochistan, where enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and militarized repression continue to devastate families and communities. The practice of forcibly abducting individuals – often without charge, trial, or any legal process – remains widespread, and is carried out with alarming impunity. The deliberate, discriminatory and widespread nature of these disappearances strongly suggests the presence of genocidal intent within the Pakistani state and military leadership. It is imperative that Pakistan implement changes to its policies in Balochistan and take steps to address the needs and demands of the Baloch community before the situation radicalizes and worsens significantly.

Statement in Support of the Joint Submission by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) to the International Criminal Court (ICC)

August 16, 2025

In their joint submission to the International Criminal Court, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) accuse Israeli political and military officials of war crimes and genocide, calling for arrest warrants, the expansion of charges against Netanyahu, and the inclusion of every documented killing of a journalist in the ICC’s Palestine investigation. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention & Human Security unequivocally supports this submission, recognising it as a vital step toward holding perpetrators accountable and defending the essential role of a free press in preventing and exposing mass atrocities.

Press freedom is an essential pillar in genocide prevention. The courageous work of journalists in regions torn apart by conflict and atrocities, often done at great personal risk, enables the international community to understand and to react to human rights abuses when they occur. These journalists act as early warning systems, exposing the signs of escalating violence before it reaches the scale of mass atrocities. Without the protection of journalists, the world is left blind to the early stages of genocide, making it more difficult to intervene in time to prevent further suffering. Attacks on the press that are allowed to continue with impunity undermine the work of peacemakers worldwide. Israel’s assault on Palestinian journalists in Gaza is an assault not only on individual lives, but on the Palestinian community as a whole, on international law, and on press freedom worldwide.

Statement on Laura Loomer’s 6/30 Remarks

July 21, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns far right activist and Trump associate Laura Loomer’s praise for Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention center.
On June 30, 2025 Loomer remarked on X (formerly Twitter) that “Alligator lives matter. The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.”

The Lemkin Institute has learned to take all leaders and their associates at their word. Given Loomer’s close proximity to President Trump, influence over national security policy, and this administration’s tendency to downplay the seriousness of its actions as demonstrated through its merchandising of detention centers and AI meme campaigns, the Lemkin Institute certainly cannot ignore her remarks or the administration’s tacit approval of them.

The Lemkin Institute considers Loomer’s remark to be a threat to all people of Latin American heritage in the United States, regardless of their legal status, and calls upon governments and global civil society to take these remarks very seriously by engaging in discussion of emergency plans for dealing with a United States that increasingly seems to be descending into a genocidal form of fascism. We remind everyone that cruel “jokes” like Loomer’s are a common feature of genocidal ideology. Loomer’s statement and the Trump Administration’s tacit approval of it are conscious acts of commitment to mass atrocity and must be recognized and addressed for what they are.

Trump's MAGA Model for Citizenship: The Supreme Court & the Threat Posed by Trump’s Assault on Birthright Citizenship in the USA

July 11, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is deeply concerned and disappointed by the recent Trump v. CASA decision issued by the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to curb the judicial use of nationwide injunctions, thereby ending the injunction blocking the nationwide enforcement of President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship. This Supreme Court’s decision sets the stage for the flagrant use of unconstitutional policies by the Trump Administration, the erosion of birthright citizenship nationwide, the destruction of the power of citizenship to protect people from the whims of the state, and the possible denaturalization of citizens based on political criteria related to the Administration’s overarching revolutionary goals. In other words, the Supreme Court has opened the door to lawlessness and totalitarianism.

The Court is set to deliberate on the legality of Trump’s executive order unilaterally limiting birthright citizenship in October. However, until a final decision is made, states are left to navigate the enforcement of Trump’s order with the possibility of such enforcement being blocked by subsequent narrower injunctions. This will create a confusing and unjust patchwork of legal realities across the United States where the order is blocked in localities with legal challenges while the order comes into force elsewhere – a direct challenge to the legal principle of nondiscrimination. A patchwork enforcement of an order that limits a fundamental constitutional right like birthright citizenship threatens to result in mass violations of civil and human rights, creating legal and logistical chaos while leaving future generations stateless and vulnerable to Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

Not only has the Court failed in preserving fundamental human and constitutional rights but it has paved the way for Trump’s “MAGA Model” for citizenship. This model will politicize citizenship through a process of denaturalization in which renaturalization is reserved only for people who fit within MAGA’s vision for U.S. society while those who do not fit are slated for detention and deportation. While we still can, we must challenge Trump’s unlawful policies, especially those that threaten fundamental constitutional rights, not only in the courts but everywhere else. If Trump’s attempts at expanding his executive power are left unchecked, Trump’s MAGA Model will become a reality across the US and any vestiges of the country’s democratic institution will be completely erased.

Statement on German Chancellor Merz’s Framing of Israeli Actions in Iran as “Dirty Work for All of Us”

July 2, 2025


The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns the statement made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on 18 June 2025 while speaking with the German broadcaster ZDFheute. Merz claimed that Israel "is doing the dirty work for all of us," referring to the airstrikes conducted against Iran since 13 June 2025. During these attacks, residential areas in Tehran were targeted, resulting in the killing of over 900 people, including hundreds of civilians.

At a time when offhand remarks by heads of state justifying criminality are becoming more and more common, the Lemkin Institute urges Germany to refrain from rhetoric that dehumanizes a nation, justifies aggressive war, and condones civilian harm.

The Lemkin Institute further urges the German leadership to reaffirm its legal and moral commitments to its own Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and International Humanitarian Law.

Statement on Allegations of Drug-Laced Flour Bags Distributed by Israel in Gaza

July 2, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is deeply horrified by reports that flour bags distributed to Palestinians under the joint Israeli-American “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” (GHF) have allegedly been laced with narcotic substances.

The Lemkin Institute urgently calls on the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations to initiate an immediate and independent investigation into these disturbing allegations. Humanitarian aid must be delivered in a transparent, safe, and neutral manner, rather than being weaponized to further a genocidal campaign.