Genocide is a human choice. It is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Genocide is the result of hate, prejudices, hate language and the individuals or society’s choice to do nothing. After the devastating horrors of the Holocaust were exposed, the slogan of the time by the United Nations became “never again” (document B).The knowledge of the atrocities done to the Jewish people outraged members and produced this well intended ideal. The UN General Assembly of the time define genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnic, racial or religious group.” But the history of the twentieth …show more content…
International law was the force behind the Nuremberg trials of Nazi officers in the late 1940’s and in the trial of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosavic. All forms of punishment face difficult challenges such as the ethicality of economic sanctions. Sanctions can easily affect an entire nations’ economy therefore, arguably punishing innocent citizens for the crimes of their government or of a powerful faction. Legal punishment for genocidal acts can be prolonged or delayed due to the inability to find the individuals responsible (document D). The people who committed the violent acts against the innocent can go into hiding, change their names or move to another country before they are held accountable for their genocidal crimes. It becomes painfully apparent that the perpetrators of this hideous mass slaughter of people, are people not so different from anyone else, but people pushed to the brink of desperation. This leads to the uncomfortable question of whether any group of people would have acted in the same manner if they found themselves in a similarly difficult condition, and even more disturbing, whether a situation of equal magnitude cold happen yet again in the near future (document K). There are documented global genocides from