Genocide at 70
| Author | Philippe Sands |
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0924051918784983 |
| Subject Matter | Column |
Column
Genocide at 70: A reflection
on its origins
Philippe Sands
Professor of Law and Director of the Centre of International Courts at Tribunals
the University College London, London, UK
On the anniversary of the Genocide Convention, it is useful that we look back at the history of the
crime of genocide, its relationship with crimes against humanity and that we reflect on its rele-
vance today.
1
Over the last nine years, I have spent a significant amount of time grappling with
these questions, whilst writing East West Street.
2
The book is about the lives of individuals seeking
to understand how their particular circumstances contributed to the roads they took and how the
roads thus travelled changed the system of international law. Underneath this lurks a bigger
question, a central question of identity: who are we? Are we individuals or members of a group?
And how do we wish the law to protect us, as individuals or as members of a group?
The book came about by chance. In the spring of 2010 an invitation arrived from the Ukraine,
from the law faculty of the university in the city that was called Lemberg during the Austro-
Hungarian empire until 1918, which was later changed to Lwo´w during the Polish years until 1939,
and finally to Lviv after 1945. I was asked if I could visit the university and deliver a public lecture
on my work on ‘crimes against humanity’ and ‘genocide’ in Nuremberg. I accepted the invitation
immediately as I had long been fascinated by the Nuremberg trials, the myths, the words, images,
sounds, the lengthy transcripts, the grim evidence, the memoirs and diaries, and films like
Judgment at Nuremberg. This 1961 Oscar-winner film was made memorable by Spencer Tracy’s
momentous performance, the unexpected flirtation with Marlene Dietrich and the line of his
closing judgment: ‘We stand for truth, justice and the value of a single human life’.
3
There is also
the fact that the Nuremberg judgment blew a powerful wind in the sails of a germinal human rights
movement, opening the possibility that the leaders of a country could be put on trial before an
international court.
Corresponding author:
Philippe Sands, University College London, Gower St, Bloomsbury, London, UK.
E-mail: p.sands@ucl.ac.uk
1. This column is based on the USC lecture Professor Philippe Sands delivered at University College London and Matrix
Chambers in February 2018.
2. Philippe Sands, East West Street: on the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity (Alfred A Knopf 2016).
3. Stanley Kramer, ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ (1961).
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
2018, Vol. 36(3) 167–172
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0924051918784983
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