Genocide Watch

Last updated
Genocide Watch
Founded1999
Founder Gregory Stanton
Website genocidewatch.com

Genocide Watch is a non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. which campaigns against genocide, and the various stages running up towards genocide. It was founded by Gregory Stanton in 1999. [1] [2] [3] [4] Genocide Watch is known for its publicizing of Stanton's analysis tool and policy model known as the ten stages of genocide. Genocide Watch is a US registered non-profit and coordinator of the Alliance Against Genocide, which includes 125 organizations in 31 countries, including the Minority Rights Group, the International Crisis Group, the Aegis Trust, and Survival International. [5] [6]

Contents

Under the leadership of Stanton, Genocide Watch has formed alliances with dozens of human rights leaders, such as Baroness Kennedy and Ewelina Ochab from the Coalition for Genocide Response. [7]

Positions and statements

Gregory Stanton in 2012 Gregory H. Stanton giving lecture at ICD Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy 2012.jpg
Gregory Stanton in 2012

Stanton has criticized the term "ethnic cleansing", considering it a euphemism for genocide which serves to facilitate genocide denial, whitewash atrocities, and impede genocide prevention. [8] He also rejects the "only intent" doctrine that the International Court of Justice used in Bosnia v Serbia and Croatia v Serbia to find that because Serbia's intent was "ethnic cleansing," Serbia's "sole" and "only" intent was not genocide, Serbia had not violated the Genocide Convention. [9] [ clarification needed ] According to Stanton, this ICJ precedent may complicate convicting Israel of genocide in Gaza. [10]

The organization issues three levels of alerts: watch, warning, and emergency. [11]

Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh

Genocide Watch has released numerous alerts that identify a campaign of genocide against Armenians due to Azerbaijan's 2023 military siege and offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and the expulsion of all ethnic Armenians from the territory. [12] [13] [14]

In 2022, Genocide Watch issued a warning against Azerbaijan’s "unprovoked" military attacks on Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. [15] Genocide Watch's earlier alerts in 2020 during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War drew condemnation from Henry Theriault and Armen Marsoobian — both genocide scholars — for misidentifying the Armenians as perpetrators. [16] [17] Henry Theriault specifically criticizes Genocide Watch's 10-stage stage model of genocide, arguing that it distorted analysis, enabled false accusations, and aided Azerbaijan. [18]

Board members

Its board of advisers includes former commander of United Nations peacekeeping forces in Rwanda Roméo Dallaire, former Nuremberg Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz, former US Ambassador to the United Nations and former Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power, [19] [20] and former UN Special Advisers for the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng and Alice Nderitu. [21]

Ten stages of genocide model

Genocide Watch is known for its publicizing of Stanton's analysis tool and policy model known as the ten stages of genocide. This enumerates steps whereby a society may evolve towards committing genocide, running from initially increasingly classifying people as "them" or "us", via a number of intermediate stages, including 'polarisation', to the genocidal 'extermination' (a term often used by the killers rather than 'murder', because they do not believe their victims to be fully human) and afterwards to a post-genocide phase when the perpetrators deny that they committed any crimes. [22] At an earlier stage in its development, the tool referred to eight stages of the process, [23] before adding the 'Discrimination' and 'Persecution' stages.

History

Genocide Watch was founded in 1999. [24] [2]

In 2010, Genocide Watch was the first organization to assert that the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres in Zimbabwe met the definition of genocide, [25] calling for the prosecution of Zimbabwean leaders including president Robert Mugabe. [26] [27]

In 2020, Genocide Watch joined other human rights groups urging the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate the actions of the Chinese government regarding Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, and demand that China end persecution of Uyghurs that amount to acts of genocide. [28]

In the case of Bosco Ntaganda within the International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Genocide Watch submitted amicus curiae observations [29] along with the Antiquities Coalition and Blue Shield International, on the interpretation of attacks on cultural property in the Rome Statute. [30]

In recent years, Genocide Watch have also published a number of reports and statements: the 'United States of America Report' highlighting genocidal aspects of racial tension in the US, [31] a number of statements regarding the Russia-Ukraine Genocide which conclude that Russia's Ukraine War is genocidal, [32] and statements regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict, which describe both Hamas' initial attack and some of Israel's military response as genocidal. [33] [ non-primary source needed ]

References

  1. ↑ "Gregory Stanton". Genocide Watch. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  2. 1 2 Çakmak, Cenap (2007). "Genocide Watch" . Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi:10.4135/9781412956215.n351. ISBN   978-1-4129-1812-1 . Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  3. ↑ Totten, Samuel (2017). "4. The role of Nongovernmental Organizations in Addressing the Prevention, Intervention, and Punishment of Genocide in the 1980s, 1990s, and Early 2000s". Genocide at the millennium. Totten, Samuel,, Sherman, Marc I. Abingdon, Oxon: Rutledge. ISBN   978-1-351-51784-3. OCLC   1013927872.
  4. ↑ Henriques, Charmaine. "Library Research Guides: Genocide: Organizations". guides.libraries.indiana.edu. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  5. ↑ "Genocide Watch". acleddata.com. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  6. ↑ "Alliance Members". against-genocide.org. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  7. ↑ "Major New Coalition Launched in Parliament to Confront Contemporary Genocide". David Alton. 3 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  8. ↑ Blum, R.; Stanton, G. H.; Sagi, S.; Richter, E. D. (2007). "'Ethnic cleansing' bleaches the atrocities of genocide". The European Journal of Public Health. 18 (2): 204–209. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckm011 . PMID   17513346.
  9. ↑ Tahir, Nabil (2024-02-03). "Can the Hague stop Israel?". The Express Tribune . Retrieved 2025-12-01.
  10. ↑ Sarfraz, Hammad (7 February 2024). "Can the World Court stop Israel?". Genocide Watch . Karachi Express Tribune Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  11. ↑ "Genocide Watch- Countries at Risk". genocidewatch. Retrieved 2026-01-09. Genocide Watch has three levels of Genocide Alerts. * A Genocide Watch is declared when there are signs of the early stages of the genocidal process. See The Ten Stages of Genocide. * A Genocide Warning is called when the genocidal process has reached the stages of preparation by perpetrators and persecution of a targeted group. * A Genocide Emergency is declared when the genocidal process has reached the stage of genocidal massacres and other acts of genocide
  12. ↑ Forgey, Elisa von Joeden (2023-12-30). "Why Prevention Fails: Chronicling the Genocide in Artsakh". International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies. 8 (2): 91. doi:10.51442/ijags.0046. ISSN   1829-4405. ...many Armenian officials, international genocide scholars, and international genocide prevention organizations were united in identifying Azerbaijan's actions as a mass atrocity crime, either 'ethnic cleansing' or 'genocide.' Armenian officials tended to prefer the term 'ethnic cleansing' while genocide scholars were convinced that Azerbaijan was committing genocide. The latter includes former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, Genocide Watch, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention.
  13. ↑ Sarkissian, Dr. Armen. "The Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh Is Textbook Ethnic Cleansing". TIME. Archived from the original on 2025-05-26. Retrieved 2026-01-12. More than a dozen nongovernmental organisations, including Genocide Watch, have issued a stark warning that Azerbaijan's blockade is 'designed to, in the words of the Genocide Convention, deliberately inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the end of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. All 14 risk factors for atrocity crimes identified by the UN Secretary-General's Office on Genocide Prevention are now present.'
  14. ↑ Gale, Robert Peter; Muradyan, Armen; Danelyan, Samvel; Manukyan, Narek; Babak, Maria V; Arakelyan, Stella; Tamamyan, Gevorg; Arakelyan, Jemma (October 2023). "The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh". The Lancet. 402 (10410): 1324–1325. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02034-2. ISSN   0140-6736. Archived from the original on 2023-12-26. We are not alone in our assessment of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.6 The International Association of Genocide Scholars warned of the "risk of genocide", the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued an active genocide alert, and Genocide Watch has declared a genocide emergency.
  15. ↑ "A Serious Risk of Genocide: Recent Developments in Nagorno-Karabakh". City St George's, University of London. 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2026-01-12. In September 2022, Genocide Watch also issued a Genocide Warning, noting that 'due to its unprovoked attacks and genocidal rhetoric against ethnic Armenians, Genocide Watch considers Azerbaijan's assault on Armenia and Artsakh to be at Stage 4: Dehumanization, Stage 7: Preparation, Stage 8: Persecution, and Stage 10: Denial.'
  16. ↑ Marsoobian, Armen T. (August 2023). "Genocide by Other Means: Heritage Destruction, National Narratives, and the Azeri Assault on the Indigenous Armenians of Karabakh". Genocide Studies International. 15 (1): 5. doi:10.3138/GSI-2023-0009. ISSN   2291-1847. In this perverse logic, the Armenians of Artsakh have become the perpetrators. Unfortunately, even some human rights organizations have slipped down this slippery slope, evidenced by the factual errors found in the alerts initially posted during the 2020 Karabakh war by Genocide Watch.
  17. ↑ Theriault, Henry (March 2022). "The Ethics of Genocide Scholarship and New Trends in Rhetorical Manipulation in Genocide Studies". Genocide Studies International. 14 (1): 85. doi:10.3138/gsi.2021.12.13.07. ISSN   2291-1847. Even after the debilitating flaws in this country report [by Genocide Watch], including dependence on illegitimate Azerbaijani nationalist sources, were pointed out to Genocide Watch, the organization refused to substantively modify its genocide warning against Armenia. That this happened during the war, as Azerbaijani drones were mass murdering Armenians across Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh, might have been a factor in preventing international political intervention against Azerbaijani violence; after all, if Armenians were on their way to perpetrating genocide, then Azerbaijan's attack could be misrepresented as defense. What is especially chilling in this case is that an organization supposedly committed to preventing genocide might have helped advanced a genocidal process.
  18. ↑ "Is denial the final stage of genocide? Consolidation, the metaphysics of denial, and the supersession of stage theory". Taylor & Francis: 23. 2021-09-21. doi:10.4324/9781003010708-1/denial-final-stage-genocide-consolidation-metaphysics-denial-supersession-stage-theory-henry-theriault. Archived from the original on 2025-11-13. ...this declaration and demonization of Armenians remarkably benefited Azeri propaganda efforts and undermined Armenian attempts to call attention to the one-sided nature of the violence and extensive human rights violations and war crimes by the forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey,
  19. ↑ "Samantha Power". U.S. Agency for International Development. 2023-01-12. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  20. ↑ "Professor John Packer named to Genocide Watch Board of Advisors". Faculty of Law - Common Law Section. February 5, 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  21. ↑ "Directors and Advisors". Genocide Watch. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
  22. ↑ "The ten stages of genocide". Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  23. ↑ "The Eight Stages of Genocide By Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, President, Genocide Watch". www.keene.edu. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  24. ↑ Hill, Geoff (29 December 2023). "What's the truth about South Africa's 'genocide' of white farmers?". The Spectator. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  25. ↑ "Guku team turns focus on Horn of Africa". The Zimbabwean. 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  26. ↑ "Gukurahundi noose tightens on Mugabe". The Zimbabwean. 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  27. ↑ "Probe into Gukurahundi era begins" . Daily News . February 28, 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  28. ↑ Kashgarian, Asim (September 17, 2020). "Activists, Experts Call on UN to Recognize China's Uighur 'Genocide'". Voice of America . Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  29. ↑ "Amicus Curiae Observations Pursuant to Rule 103 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence on Behalf of the Antiquities Coalition, Blue Shield International and Genocide Watch" (PDF). icc-cpi.int. ICC-01/04-02/06. International Criminal Court. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  30. ↑ Karegeya, Portia (2020-09-21). "21 September 2020 - ICC AC receives amicus curiae briefs in Ntaganda case". ICL Media Review. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  31. ↑ "Genocide Watch Labels USA With 'Genocide Warning' - The Locke Society". The Locke Society. 12 December 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  32. ↑ "Ukraine war: Is Russia committing genocide?". www.bbc.com/news. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  33. ↑ "The Double Genocide in Gaza by Dr. Gregory Stanton". genocidewatch. 17 September 2025. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
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