Red Flag Alerts for Genocide

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.

Our most recent Red Flag Alert for Azerbaijan in Armenia, issued on 1 November 2023, expressed deep concern with the alarming potential for an Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia’s Syunik Province in order to build a “Zangezur Corridor” to Azerbaijani-controlled exclave of Nakhichevan. The Lemkin Institute is issuing another alert based on the renewed aggressiveness of the Azerbaijani state in the wake of President Ilham Aliyev’s re-election on 7 February 2024. The Lemkin Institute is pleased to see that the European Union and the United States are taking more steps to show support for Armenia in the wake of the Artsakh genocide. We wish to make clear that Azerbaijan is a genocidal state that has shown time and again that it respects neither international law nor peace treaties. To have an impact on Azerbaijan’s future actions, and to avoid yet another regional conflict, the Western powers must take strong and coordinated measures to immediately withdraw military funding and threaten to cut off investments and trade if Azerbaijan does not walk back from its belligerent actions.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Republic of Armenia, due to the alarming potential for an invasion of Armenia by Azerbaijan in the coming days and weeks. Azerbaijan has long coveted Armenia’s southern Syunik Province, which has been discussed in the recent past as the site of an Azerbaijani-controlled “Zangezur Corridor” to Nakhichevan. Considering recent political developments in the region—including the Azerbaijani invasion of Artsakh on September 19, 2023 and the ensuing seizure of the territory—and well-established genocidal Armenophobia endemic in Türkiye and Azerbaijan, an Azerbaijani invasion runs a dangerously high risk of devolving into genocide. We remind the world that genocide is not only expressed through mass murder. As was the case during the recent seizure of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh in September of 2023, genocide can also be expressed through a pattern of massacre, atrocity, and forced displacement from indigenous territory when the ideology behind these actions is aimed at destroying an identity in whole or in part.

The Lemkin Institute of Genocide Prevention condemns the recent surge of violence that has occurred in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. In particular, we are deeply concerned about the ongoing Israeli military aggression in Jenin, especially in the context of advancing Israeli settlements in the West Bank. We reiterate our concern that Israel is dangerously vulnerable to the mass murder form of genocide against Palestinians.

June 12 marked six months since the beginning of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh. While the so-called environmental protest has ended, Azerbaijan concurrently erected an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor on April 23rd. Azerbaijan has used this checkpoint as a means to continue abusing the Armenians of Artsakh by impeding humanitarian aid from reaching Artsakh and restricting the right to free movement and safe passage through the Lachin Corridor. The Lemkin Institute leadership team traveled to the Corridor to highlight the impact of this illegal act.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention condemns the state of Israel’s most recent attack on the Gaza Strip following the attack on Palestinian Muslim worshipers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by the Israeli police. We further condemn the dramatic uptick in attacks on Christians by Jewish civilians. The rise of Israel's far-right government has led to more frequent attacks on Chrisitan identity symbols, such as statues, churches, and clergy members, who report being frequently spit on, harassed, and even physically attacked by extremist Jews. These attacks have been perpetrated alongside the use of dangerous language, such as the chant, “Death to Arabs … Death to Christians.” All of this is happening in an atmosphere of impunity created by the Israeli state and a society that has ignored the violent injustices against Palestinians for far too long. In such a context, Israel is facing the very real possibility of mass atrocity, including the mass murder pattern of genocide. All the ideological building blocks for genocide already exist in both the state and in dominant society.

Since April 6th, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government announced its intention to integrate all regional special armed forces into the federal forces, violence has increased, particularly in Ethiopia's second largest region, Amhara, where many Amhara people have been killed in violent clashes with federal forces. In light of these recent developments and the overall escalating violence in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, the Lemkin Institute is issuing a Red Flag Alert for Genocide for Ethiopia.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention expresses deep concern regarding the state of Azerbaijan’s most recent attack on the Armenian border village of Tegh. Such smaller-scale violations of Armenia’s sovereignty have been a signal of larger-scale attacks against Armenia in the past. Azerbaijan seems to be convinced of its impunity with regards to Armenian territory and Armenian people, as it has faced no serious consequences from the international community for its flagrant and genocidal violations of international law since 2016. We call for the international community to take immediate steps to end Azerbaijan’s impunity and set the South Caucasus region on a real road to peace, one that recognizes the rights of Armenians to exist in security and without repeated genocidal threats from its neighbors Azerbaijan and Turkey.

At the mainstream Conservative Political Action Conference in the USA on March 4, American actor-turned-pundit Michael Knowles announced that “for the good of society… transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely” to loud applause and shouts of support. The Lemkin Institute is horrified by Knowles’ statement, which is part of a much more widespread pattern of genocidal language and policies being used by political actors in the USA against the transgender community.