Start Page
227
Abstract
Genocide is a sensitive topic. While the Genocide Convention is traditionally understood, especially in the popular imagination, to prohibit mass killings, its provisions prohibit a far broader array of conduct. While killings of Indigenous peoples have thus frequently been considered to fall within the bounds of the Genocide Convention, crimes against culture—like the taking of ancestral or sacred Indigenous lands—have been considered outside of its bounds. While many of these takings continue to occur today, Indigenous loss of land has been consistent throughout history. This Comment argues that cultural genocide, both as a means and as an end, are properly included within the terms of the Genocide Convention. This Comment further argues that the doctrine of continuing violations, which allows tribunals to exercise jurisdiction over failures to investigate and remediate violations of the Convention, including violations that occurred before a state’s ratification of the Convention, may provide recourse for pre- and postConvention wrongs committed against Indigenous peoples
Recommended Citation
St. Charles, Bonnie
(2020)
"You’re on Native Land: The Genocide Convention, Cultural Genocide, and Prevention of Indigenous Land Takings,"
Chicago Journal of International Law:
Vol. 21:
No.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil/vol21/iss1/7