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181. Genocide in Kosovo

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The campaign of genocidal assault and "ethnic cleansing" waged by Serb forces in Kosovo in 1998-99 was characterized, above all other atrocities, by the gender-selective mass-murder of the "battle-age" males. The present article seeks to plea this campaign of "gendercide" against non-combatant men in the broader context of the Balkans wars of the 1990s-including the five worst massacres in Europe since the aftermath of the Second World War, all of which clearly reflected the gendercidal underpinnings of the Serb strategy. The military "logic" of the strategy is examined, as are the harbingers of gendercide that were evident in Kosovo after the imposition of Serb police-state in the early 1990s. An analysis of the key atrocities of the 1999 war in Kosovo follows, along with some concluding comments about the taboo treatment accorded the subject in the feminist I.R. literature. The Kosovo war also offered an excellent opportunity to analyze the representation of gender and violent victimization in the mass media. A broad sample of media commentary is presented to demonstrate that "unworthy" male victims tend to be marginalized or ignored entirely in mass-media coverage. A trio of common marginalization strategies discussed, and a theoretical framework of "first-order", "second-order", and "third-order" gendering is proposed to clarify the deficit in coverage. This deficit is then contrasted with the attention given to the victimization experiences of "worthy" victims, such as women, children, and the elderly. Finally, the small handful of responsible and insightful media reports on gender-selective atrocities against Kosovar men is evaluated for the alternative it may offer to "effacing the male" from coverage of war and violence.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Gender Issues, and Genocide
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Kosovo

182. Gendercide and Genocide

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Gender-selective atrocities have tended to attract little attention when the victims are male. The result is that gender-selective killing-"gendercide"-has tended to be examined only in the context of the female experience. This paper takes a broader and more inclusive approach to the subject. It argues that, contrary to the standard depiction, gender-selective mass killing is more likely to target men than women-especially males of a "battle age." Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary case studies, the paper examines the methods and underlying motivations of gendercides against both men and women. Moving beyond a state-centered framework, it also considers institutional gendercide through forced labor, military conscription, female infanticide, witch-hunts, and other phenomena. It concludes by calling for an inclusive approach to gender-selective mass killing, and for a recognition of extreme urgency of the phenomenon in the modern world.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Gender Issues, and Genocide

183. Kosovo: Orders of Magnitude

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The issue of the number of civilian causalities in the Kosovo war of 1999, especially of "battle-age" men, attracted considerable controversy both during the war and in its aftermath. This article considers the pattern of Serb atrocities in the province, and the pace and character of the forensic investigations conducted since the war by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It argues that the lowest casualty estimates are highly unlikely, given the evidence of widespread mass executions gleaned from refugee testimony and forensic investigations. The article concludes with some thoughts on the implications of the casualty figures in the policy of human-rights arenas.
Topic:
Civil Society, Genocide, Human Rights, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Kosovo and Yugoslavia

184. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: The Countdown

Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Il reste officiellement un peu plus de cinq ans au Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) pour achever le mandat qui lui a été confié, en novembre 1994, par le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies. Le TPIR se trouve donc exactement à mi-parcours de son mandat. Depuis un an et demi, plusieurs nouveaux procès ont été initiés. Toutefois malgré cette amélioration significative marquée par un fort regain d'activité, le Tribunal d'Arusha n'a pas établi, les priorités judiciaires qui lui permettraient de remplir son mandat avant 2008. En mai 2001, ICG publiait un premier rapport bilan des activités du TPIR intitulé: "L'urgence de juger". Cette urgence reste, malheureusement, toujours d'actualité.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Ethnic Conflict, Genocide, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa and Rwanda

185. Historians as political trouble-shooters: Officially Commissioned Surveys of Holocaust Legacies in France and Switzerland

Author:
Regula Ludi and Jean-Marc Dreyfus
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
In the 1990s, revelations, disclosures of archival documents, and class-action suits shed light on legacies of the Holocaust that had been neglected during the Cold War era. Since 1996 most European countries, the U.S. and many private businesses have appointed commissions of historians and other experts to investigate the still unresolved questions of property restitution and compensation payments. Such surveys caused controversies about the necessity and the meaning of a reevaluation of the memory of the Naziera in most countries. The authors of this paper both have worked as staff historians for such commissions, in France and Switzerland respectively. Based on their experience, they reflect upon the impact of officially appointed investigations on images of the past and their significance for the current political situation of the two countries.
Topic:
Cold War and Genocide
Political Geography:
Europe, France, and Switzerland

186. Conference-Workshop on the Northern European Initiative

Author:
Denise M. Horn
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Security and Democracy
Abstract:
Heather Conley began the session with a report regarding the current plans for US policy in the region. Generally NEI is considered a success story, thus the US is now retooling its policies by asking where the US should go in a post-enlargement world, and asking how to use this policy elsewhere.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Genocide, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

187. Onward, Liberal Soldiers? The Crusading Logic of Bush's Grand Strategy and What Is Wrong with It

Author:
Edward Rhodes
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Security and Democracy
Abstract:
As pressures mount to strike before summer weather forecloses military options for the year, the debate whether the United States should undertake a preventive war against Iraq moves inexorably toward the center of the American political stage, despite the understandable reluctance of many Americans to think about the difficult trade-offs and troubling questions such a war would raise. Proponents of the war focus on the dangers of leaving Saddam Hussein in power. Opponents focus on the morality, military risks, and international political costs of undertaking a preventive war, on the possibilities of containing Saddam Hussein's influence and deterring his use of weapons of mass destruction without resort to war, and on the difficulties of building stable political institutions in the region after a victory.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Genocide, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

188. Rape as Genocide: The Legal Response to Sexual Violence

Author:
Dr. Frances T. Pilch
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Security and Democracy
Abstract:
The last decade has witnessed a profound transformation in the treatment of sexual violence in international law. The overwhelming evidence of the widespread use of rape as a policy tool in the former Yugoslavia, combined with the tragedy of the genocide in Rwanda, in which rape was also widely prevalent, has led to a legal reconceptualization of sexual violence in internal and international conflicts. The ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, have genuinely broken new ground as they have confronted cases dealing with the complexities of rape, torture, and genocide. They have struggled with determining the legal definition of rape and finding a balance between the rights of witnesses and defendants. The revolutionary changes that have taken place in this area of the law in large part reflect the growing mobilization and influence of non-governmental organizations articulating the importance of the rights of women, and the increasing importance of the presence of women advocates, prosecutors, and judges.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Genocide, Human Rights, and International Law
Political Geography:
Europe, Yugoslavia, and Sierra Leone

189. Genocide and Humanitarian Intervention: Incorporating the Gender Variable

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The gender variable is one of the least-analyzed and most misunderstood elements of genocidal killing. This paper seeks to develop the authors inclusive framing of "gendercide" i.e., gender-selective mass killing, by exploring the relevance of gender to genocide prevention and humanitarian intervention. Among the specific arguments to be advanced is that the genocidal or prot-genocidal targeting of males, especially "battle-age" me, is one of the most reliable indicators of the onset, or impending onset, of full-scale genocide. In the three "classic" genocides of the twentieth century, for example - against the Armenian community in Turkey, European Jews, and the Tutsis of Rwanda - full-scale genocide was preceded by a wide range of gender-selective measures, including mass roundups and localized killings of men. The demonization of out-group males was a key feature of the propaganda discourse that paved the way for genocide. In addition, the initial stages of all these genocides overwhelmingly targeted males for extermination, a phenomenon that is also evident in numerous contemporary and historical cases. Associated patterns of demonization of "out-group" women, and abuses including rape and sexual assault, need to be factored into the analysis. </p
Topic:
Gender Issues, Genocide, Human Rights, and Human Welfare

190. Global Humanitarian Emergencies: Trends and Projections, 1999-2000

Publication Date:
12-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Both the number and intensity of humanitarian emergencies, as well as the number of people in need, will remain at about the same high level or even increase somewhat by December 2000- testing the capacity and willingness of the international donor community to respond adequately. According to the US Committee for Refugees, roughly 35 million people are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. There are twenty-four ongoing humanitarian emergencies and new or renewed emergencies could appear in the Balkans, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia, and/or Central America. Humanitarian conditions throughout the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, Iraq, and North Korea will continue to have a particularly significant impact upon regional stability, as well as on the strategic interests of major outside powers. Conditions are likely to worsen in Angola, Colombia, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Republic of Serbia within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), excluding the province of Kosovo. The current drought in the Horn of Africa may induce a famine as severe as that of the mid-1980s. The humanitarian situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC) and Sierra Leone are unlikely to improve significantly even if pending peace accords hold, and could worsen considerably if such accords were to fail. In addition to the emergencies cited above, several other major countries and regions may experience conflict, political instability, sudden economic crises, or technological or natural disasters- leading to new or renewed humanitarian emergencies: Resumed hostilities between India and Pakistan that expanded beyond the borders of Kashmir, as they did in previous conflicts, would displace a million or more people on both sides of the border. The countries of Central America and the Caribbean that were battered by hurricanes in 1998- especially Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Haiti-remain vulnerable to weather-induced disasters. Internal ethnic conflict would create substantial humanitarian needs in The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The possibility of additional sudden economic emergencies also cannot be discounted. In Russia, drought threatens the grain harvest, and unless the outlook improves, Moscow will again need large-scale food assistance. Despite Nigeria's turn toward democracy, escalating conflict in the oil-rich Niger River Delta region could lead to widespread refugee flows into neighboring countries. The possible effects of widespread Y2K-related difficulties could aggravate current humanitarian emergencies or lead to new emergencies. The overall demand for emergency humanitarian assistance through December 2000 may exceed the willingness of major donor countries to respond. Overall funding for ongoing emergencies has probably temporarily spiked upward owing to Hurricane Mitch and Kosovo. Nevertheless, the focus on the Balkans could detract attention and resources from other regions with extensive humanitarian needs. Absent major new emergencies, the longer-term funding trend is likely to continue downward, increasing the shortfall. Government funding is likely to decline fastest for long-lasting conflicts where attempts at political resolution continue to fail.
Topic:
Genocide, Government, Human Rights, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Balkans, and Central America