Red Flag Alerts for Genocide

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security would like to bring attention to and condemn recent judicial and governmental developments in the United Kingdom, which attempt to harm transgender and intersex people in the UK by stripping them of privacy and segregating them as ‘others.’ The Lemkin Institute believes these moves are part of a broader process of erasure. It is not only government action but also the media narrative that has fuelled hostility to and debate about the humanity of trans and intersex people while ignoring their voices. We see evidence of genocidal intent and actions targeting these communities.

This hostile environment is a subtle, pernicious and clear attempt to eradicate transgender and intersex people from British life because their existence causes ideological discomfort to some. The anti-trans movement is a movement based solely on ignorance and bigotry, whether it is cloaked in religion or “feminism” or any other doctrinal or ideological belief system. No denial or omission in law can erase the concrete reality that trans and intersex people have always and will always exist. Attempts to erase them as a class constitutes an intent to commit genocide.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns the US Supreme Court’s Skrmetti v. U.S. decision to uphold the state of Tennessee’s ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender youth. This decision will allow similar laws in 24 US states to remain in effect and paves the way for new states – and perhaps the federal government – to follow suit.

In February 2025 the Lemkin Institute raised the alarm about the genocidal process against the transgender community that has emerged in the U.S. over the past decade and has spread across the globe. This process has rapidly escalated under the second Trump administration. The Skrmetti v. U.S. decision marks a radicalization of attempts to erase trans people, in whole, as a group, as it prevents trans children and their families from accessing the necessary and appropriate healthcare to support and confirm their gender identity.

The Lemkin Institute urges the American people, especially the scientific community, to take an
unwavering stand against any sort of registry of autistic people (or any other group). We also
urge Americans to push back hard against violations of privacy and limits on disabled people's
rights to life, inclusion, and respect. Americans must reject the idea that the state should be able
to trample these fundamental rights whenever it feels a certain group is a threat to “national
strength” or is becoming too costly, as RFK Jr. has made clear he views autistic people to be.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is dismayed by the public and official legitimation, justification, and endorsement of genocide by the United States and its allies. This has created a world in which the collective institutions of the West – which rely on U.S. financing and/or military support – have aided and abetted genocide. This includes most Western governments and the United Nations. Over the past two years, the world has witnessed a United States willing to do the dirty work of genocidal allies by giving them a green light, sending military aid, providing diplomatic cover, and offering up a press corps that for all intents and purposes supports the foreign policy aims of whatever party is in power. The Biden Administration supported Azerbaijan’s genocide against the people of Artsakh and Israel’s genocide against the people of Palestine, subjecting the entire world to common forms of genocide denialism that are usually reserved for direct perpetrators. While the Administrations of Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump differ in their approach to Russia, their approach to Azerbaijan and Israel is fundamentally the same. The Trump Administration, by caving to President Vladimir Putin’s demands in Ukraine, has brought U.S. Russia policy in line with the U.S.'s established support for expansionist states with genocidal aims. As a consequence of all of these policies, genocidal thinking has taken root in U.S. governance and is spreading to domestic institutions. The U.S.A., Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Israel, and Russia have developed into an ‘Axis of Genocide.

This is the first installment in a series of upcoming Red Flag Alerts on Axes of Genocide around the world.

US President Donald Trump’s 4 March address to a joint session of Congress reads as a textbook example of what we in Genocide Studies call “perpetrator speech.” The President’s words would not sound strange coming from the mouth of Adolf Hitler in 1933, Slobodon Milošević in 1992, or countless other past genocidal leaders. The genocidal allusions of Trump’s past addresses have now become blatant statements of genocidal intent as Trump directly targets undocumented immigrants and trans people in his speech.

As other genocides have shown us, the Trump administration will likely expand their campaigns of denial, exclusion, and elimination to other groups. It is imperative that the American people realize that the President's speech contained several red flags common to genocidal processes. Americans must make clear to this Administration that they will not accept hate speech and discriminatory legislation or policy. Action must be taken while there is still time to prevent the worst atrocities from taking place.

The Lemkin Institute is issuing an urgent Red Flag Alert for Syria due to critical risk of genocide against Syrians from the Alawite sect, particularly in Syria’s Coastal region.

The Lemkin Institute firmly condemns the massacres launched by the new governmental forces and other militant fractions. Neither the argument for “security” nor the targeting of “regime remnants” can be used as justification for mass slaughter of an entire community.

The Lemkin Institute calls upon all international powers and the government of Syria to ensure the safety and protection of the Alawite community and other ethnic and religious minorities in Syria as well as swiftly carry out an impartial fact-finding investigation to ensure that perpetrators of high crimes are held accountable for the mass killings. We further appeal to the people of Syria to stand united in solidarity and demand justice for their compatriots. Finally, the Lemkin Institute urges global religious institutions to condemn the sectarian massacres and reject violent extremism.

In this holy time of the year for all the Abrahamic religions, statements of solidarity are especially important for peace and reconciliation.

(Updated and Re-Released from February 13, 2025)

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns the anti-trans agenda of the second Trump Administration and warns Americans that the recent spate of executive orders, which are in line with a genocidal process against the transgender community that has been emerging in the United States for over a decade, are meant to pave the way for greater state repression against all individuals and other groups in the future. It is important to consistently and loudly reject this administration’s efforts to isolate any people or groups due to their identities, to reaffirm the USA’s commitment to individual rights and diversity, and to push back against efforts to normalize state repression and violence.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention is without words after the billionaire Elon Musk gave the Nazi salute twice during his speech at the inauguration of President Donald Trump in the United States of America. Musk’s act is a frightening signal of things to come, an offense to the nation, and, possibly, an effort to embarrass and weaken an aging Donald Trump, making him vulnerable to a Musk takeover.

In light of Musk’s important influence on the new administration, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States.

We hope that President Donald Trump will see this threat for what it is and that he will have enough love of country to do what any patriot would do in his shoes: Repudiate Musk and strip Musk of the position and the access that he has been granted, assuring the American people that a Trump Presidency will not serve to empower present-day Nazis of any stripes.

The Lemkin Institute is dismayed by the recent assault on and incursion into the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem by Israeli police and settlers. In January 2024, the Lemkin Institute published a statement condemning the attack on the Armenian Quarter in East Jerusalem by armed mobs associated with an Israeli-Australian businessman, Danny Rubenstein.

It has been one month since our most recent Red Flag Alert concerning Azerbaijan's threats to the sovereign Republic of Armenia. We are now issuing our third such RFA, given Azerbaijan’s escalating rhetoric and demands and its recent attacks on Armenia’s Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces. Previously we have issued numerous RFAs and SOS Alerts for the Republic of Artsakh, which was occupied and depopulated by Azerbaijan on September 19, 2023. Now, as anticipated in our previous publications, the threat of genocide has extended to the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia itself.