Ultranationalist Genocides: Failures of Global Justice in Nigeria and Pakistan.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
  • Author(s): Travis, Hannibal
  • Source:
    International Journal on Minority & Group Rights. 2014, Vol. 21 Issue 3, p414-450. 37p.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
    • Subject Terms:
    • Abstract:
      International law entered a period of accelerated change in the decade after the genocide of the Ibo people in Nigeria. By 1979, jurists had drafted much-needed reforms to international law in the areas of prohibited methods of war, the rights of refugees, and the infliction of severe pain to punish dissent or to discriminate on racial or religious grounds. These reforms, if implemented in good faith, provide a basis for international criminal tribunals to punish the widespread killing and abuse of civilians in noninternational armed conflicts. International courts analysed few such conflicts in the decades after the Genocide Convention entered into force, despite the aim of the convention to prevent genocide by public or private actors, in time of war or peace, and by targeting a group in whole or in part. This article analyses the Ibo genocide in terms of the techniques used by the Nigerian army to destroy the Ibo ethnic group in substantial part, including massacres of Ibo civilians, imposition of widespread and disease epidemics on the Ibos, and rape of Ibos as a matter of policy. It surveys the influence of the Biafran genocide on the evolution of international norms relating to war crimes, refugees, and torture. The international community multiplied norms in lieu of enforcing them, in this case as in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
    • Abstract:
      Copyright of International Journal on Minority & Group Rights is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)