Genocide and the Ocean: Conceptualising their Relationship

Genocide and the Ocean: Conceptualising their Relationship

Online workshop starting at 10am UK Time – Click to join us on Teams.

What is the relationship between genocide and the ocean? This question invites critical inquiry into what it is we talk about when we talk about ‘genocide.’ On one level, genocide is a narrow and technical issue of international law that imposes liability for violence undertaken with the ‘specific intent’ to destroy a racial, religious, or national group in whole or in part. On another level, genocide is broadly invoked in moral and political discourse as the supreme act of human evil. In other words, contrary to existing international legal doctrine, genocide occupies the popular imagination as a ‘crime of crimes’ placed at the very top of an asserted hierarchy of harm. Recognising this multi-faceted deployment as an embedded feature of genocide discourse, the aim of this workshop is to explore where exactly the ocean fits within this scheme, especially considering the myriad of ways in which the ocean and oceanic forces can end and/or degrade human life on a brutally massive scale.

Itinerary

10am – Welcoming RemarksEric Loefflad (University of Kent) and Vicky Kapogianni (University of Reading)

10:15am Opening Address Eric Loefflad – Otto Kranzbühler in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait: Nuremberg, Yemen, and Universal Justice in a World of Maritime Hegemony

10:45 – Panel 1: Migration

ModeratorVicky Kapogianni

*Fatima Mehmood (Universal College Lahore) – The Nexus of Non-Refoulement and Genocide: Exploring Erga Omnes Parties Obligations Owed to Sea Refugees

*Regina Palouse (Common Good Foundation) – Genocide beyond Borders? The Rohingya at Sea

*Dorothea Endres (Geneva Graduate Institute) and Vera Piovesen (Geneva Graduate Institute/Durham University) –Letting Migrants Drown in the Sea: A Practice-Based Analysis of EU Leaders Committing the Crime of Genocide

Q & A (15 minutes)

11:45 – Panel 2: Environment

ModeratorAndreas Kotsakis (University of Kent)

*Holly Leung (University of Hong Kong) – Maritime Ecocide

*Dave-Inder Comar (Just Atonement) – Self-Determination, Sea-Level Rise, and Climate Change: New Approaches towards Protecting the Existence and Survival of Peoples from Climate Change Impacts

*Gaspard Lemaire (University of Angers) – Climate Inaction and the Future of Small Island Developing States: A Crime Without a Name?

Q & A (15 minutes)

Break (15 minutes)

1pm – Keynote Address: Itamar Mann (University of Haifa) – Gaza’s Salty Water

Q & A (15 minutes)

1:45- Panel 3: Accountability

ModeratorBenjamin Throne (University of Kent)

*Aditya Kanuparthi (independent researcher) – The Potential Role of the Current Advisory Opinion Proceedings at ITLOS in Preventing Genocide at Sea

*Cristiano D’Orsi (University of Johannesburg) – Paradise for Tourists have not been Always a Paradise: Conflicts in African Islands and the Past (and Present) Role of the Formal Colonial Powers

*Vittorio Cama (University of Trento) – Navigating Murky Waters: Addressing the Intersection of International and Transnational Maritime Crime

Q & A (15 minutes)

2:45Farewell Remarks

Eric Loefflad and Vicky Kapogianni

Microsoft Teams meeting

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Meeting ID: 376 436 224 435
Passcode: JqcRJZ

Genocide and the Ocean: Conceptualising their Relationship

What is the relationship between genocide and the ocean? This question invites critical inquiry into what it is we talk about when we talk about ‘genocide.’ On one level, genocide is a narrow and technical issue of international law that imposes liability for violence undertaken with the ‘specific intent’ to destroy a racial, religious, or national group in whole or in part. On another level, genocide is broadly invoked in moral and political discourse as the supreme act of human evil. In other words, contrary to existing international legal doctrine, genocide occupies the popular imagination as a ‘crime of crimes’ placed at the very top of an asserted hierarchy of harm. Recognising this multi-faceted deployment as an embedded feature of genocide discourse, the aim of this workshop is to explore where exactly the ocean fits within this scheme, especially considering the myriad of ways in which the ocean and oceanic forces can end and/or degrade human life on a brutally massive scale.

From the seemingly ceaseless drowning of refugees to mass deprivation caused by naval blockades to the devastation of coastal areas through climate change and its contribution to patterns of forced migration, such questions of maritime morbidity are of the utmost concern to today’s international lawyers. Can the current legal definition of genocide be applied or extended to account for these instances of violence? Does the current discourse on genocide systematically marginalise these forms of harm? Are alternative concepts needed to understand the contribution of the ocean to mass human death? What are the fundamental presumptions that create difficulties when theorising the relationship between genocide and the ocean? Through this workshop, we shall explore these questions (and more) by focusing on the nexus between atrocity, international law, and ‘the maritime’ through a broad interdisciplinary lens. Towards this end, we encourage submissions by experts in anthropology, geography, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, and related fields, in addition to international law.

This workshop will take place on March 20th, 2024 at the University of Kent, Canterbury with keynote addresses by Prof Itamar Mann (Haifa) and Prof Surabhi Ranganathan (Cambridge). A limited number of travel bursaries will be available for PhD students and Early Career Researchers. Selected papers will be submitted for potential publication in a special issue of the Journal of Genocide Research to be guest edited by Dr Vicky Kapogianni and Dr Eric Loefflad. Those interested in participating should send an abstract of 750 words maximum and a bio of 200 words maximum to Dr Eric Loefflad at e.d.loefflad@kent.ac.uk, and should specify if they wish to be considered for a bursary, by December 15th, 2023. Applicants will be informed of the outcome by January 20th, 2024.

Potential Topics might include (but are no way limited to):

—Particular Vulnerability of Island and Coastal Peoples to Genocidal Violence

—Histories of the Maritime Dimensions of Slavery and Colonial Encounters

—Issues Relating to Refugees at Sea

—Addressing Violence at Sea through International Criminal Law

—Genocide and Naval Operations (Blockade/Bombardment/Sanction/Nuclear Weapons)

—Mass Deaths resulting from Destruction of Marine Environments and/or Climate Change

—How the Feature of the Ocean Shapes Forced Migration (and even Internal Displacement)