Challenges to the recognition of Bangladesh genocide

March 26, 2024

DHAKA – While there is a considerable number of international treaties and national legislations to prosecute international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and others, there is no international law or framework on the issue of genocide recognition. Generally, recognition of a genocide depends on the state’s geopolitical position vis-à-vis a moral obligation to identify, prevent, and punish the crime. In other words, morality has no space in what we now know as international law—or rather, the European construct of international law. The realist school of international law/relations might argue that diplomatic efforts are imperative to secure the global recognition of any genocide. Perhaps this is the case if we look at how the Rohingya genocide and the genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory have attracted global attention, and because of which cases are now pending in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as well as in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Half a century on, the Bangladesh genocide is yet to receive as much global notice as similar events have received in recent past.

Multiple political factors are involved with the question of genocide recognition. Among others, the relationship of convenience between the perpetrator state(s) and the geo-strategically powerful states influence the recognition aspect. On a larger canvas, the polarisation on ideological fronts among the UN Security Council (UNSC) members, especially the five permanent members, and their associations with perpetrator state(s) are also key to understanding when, why, and how a genocide is or is not to be recognised. The relationship of convenience is oft moulded by pecuniary