Gerd Hankel | Genocide. Reflections on a contested concept

The term „genocide“ is divisive. That an actor is committing genocide is the most serious accusation imaginable – the attempts at defence are correspondingly vehement. The verdict can stick to perpetrators and perpetrator states for generations like a stigma. This makes it all the more important to follow current extensions of the concept closely and sceptically. What is often overlooked in such debates is that genocide is first and foremost about murder, mass murder, committed against a specific population group. Other acts that are also covered by the Genocide Convention, but which do not relate to direct physical destruction, should only be considered in addition. Slogans such as „Never again“ or „Never again is now“ are polarising. What some consider legitimate emphasis,
can be at the expense of conceptual clarity. An all-or-nothing attitude which, by focussing on the accusation of genocide, declares other serious violations of international law, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, to be trivialities, must be critically questioned. Gerd Hankel’s essay provides assistance in this regard.

Gerd Hankel is an international law expert and linguist who has worked in and on East Africa for more than two decades. Hankel is a member of the Working Group on International Criminal Law and an expert witness in proceedings relating to asylum law and international criminal law.

Genocide: A Controversial Term will be published on August 17, 2026, by Hamburger Edition (ISBN: 978-3-9872200-8-1)

An event organised by the Fritz Bauer Forum.