Red Flag Alerts for Genocide

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for Serbia for the potential of a renewed conflict in the Republic of Kosovo. Throughout December 2022, military tensions were steadily rising between the Republics of Serbia and Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but has yet to achieve full recognition by the United Nations and the international community.

On December 28th, 2022 Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that “the Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel — in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan, Judea and Samaria,” making its new government priority an explicit and total Jewish supremacy over historical Palestine at the expense of any Palestinian land claims. In light of Netanyahu’s profoundly disturbing statement, as well as the recent provocations by Israeli political leaders in an increasingly extremist political context, the Lemkin Institute for the Prevention of Genocide is issuing a genocide red flag alert for Israel.

On December 12th, for the second time in nine days, a group of Azerbaijani military and civilian servants, claiming to be environmental “activists,” barricaded the only road connecting Artsakh and Armenia. The Center for Law and Justice “Tatoyan” Foundation has reported that 270 children have been stranded on the roads in winter weather conditions since December 12th, due to the blockade of the road. This number of children has been confirmed by the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh. Several of these children have been separated from their families.

On the morning of December 3, a group of Azerbaijanis in civilian clothes blocked the route Stepanakert-Goris, the only road that connects the Armenians of Artsakh with the Republic of Armenia. For more than two hours, approximately 120,000 Artsakh Armenians were isolated from Armenia proper and surrounded by Azerbaijanis. After several hours of negotiation with the Azerbaijani regime, the route was finally reopened and communications were re-established. In light of this new development, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing another Red Flag Alert for Azerbaijan.

In the wake of new apparent atrocities committed once again by Turkey against the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, Assyrians, and Ezidis (Yazidis), along with Turkey’s persisting genocidal rhetoric against the Armenians, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for Genocide for Turkey.

The Lemkin Institute is issuing a Red Flag Alert regarding the continuing escalation of the war in Ukraine, particularly the forcible removal of Ukrainian children to Russia, which stands in breach of Article II, subsection E of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Article 6, subsection E of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for Brazil, since the policies pursued by its next president could determine the existential fate of many of Brazil’s indigenous groups and, with them, the fate of the Amazon rainforest and the future of humanity. Bolsonaro’s dehumanizing language and genocidal environmental policies towards the Brazilian indigenous population are of particular concern. The continuation of these policies over the next four years would be disastrous.

In light of the Russian Ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on October 10 and 11, as well as Russia’s September 21 mobilization of reservists, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for a dangerous escalation in Russia’s military tactics in Ukraine. In particular, we are concerned about the Russian state’s increasingly alarmist claims that it faces an existential threat from the West and that Russia must fight back in self-defense.

In light of Azerbaijan’s ongoing war crimes, terrorism, genocidal language, and genocidal aims towards Armenia and Armenians, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing another red flag alert for Azerbaijan. There are moments in history when genocide can be prevented. This is one of those moments. The world will either act with clarity and strength to protect Armenian life or it will oversee a renewal of genocidal violence by states still driven by the hateful ideology of 1915.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention strongly condemns Iran’s crackdown on the courageous women and men who have taken to the streets to protest the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini while in state custody for alleged infractions of the state’s hijab law. We stand in solidarity with Iranians from all walks of life who have been peacefully expressing their outrage in the face of growing state terror and repression. We further celebrate this women-led movement, its powerful use of symbolism, and its battle cry of “women, life and freedom” as a model for people power and feminist solidarity the world over.