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International Association of Genocide Scholars
International non-partisan organization From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) is an international non-partisan organization that seeks to further research and teaching about the nature, causes, and consequences of genocide.[2] The IAGS also advances policy studies on the prevention of genocide.[3][4][5][6][7] The official peer-reviewed academic journal of the association is called Genocide Studies and Prevention.[8]
With over 500 members as of 2025,[9] multiple sources describe the IAGS as the world's leading[10][11] and largest organization of scholars studying genocide and crimes against humanity.[12][13][14][15]
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Resolutions and statements
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The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) issues formal positions either through its executive board, advisory board, or via resolutions passed by participating members. A resolution on a public issue passes only if over two-thirds of voters approve and more than 20% of members take part in the vote.[16] The usual range of votes received for a resolution falls between 25 and 34%.[17]
Meetings of resolution authors with the full membership are not required by the bylaws but are sometimes held.[17][18] The resolutions passed by the IAGS reflect the association's scholarly assessments on genocide, mass atrocities, and denialism. The IAGS has passed resolutions and issued board statements addressing genocidal crimes and related matters in the following cases:
- Genocidal actions by Azerbaijan – including a siege and offensive – against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh[19] Two additional statements condemned the ongoing Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia.[20][21]
- The Armenian Genocide under the Ottoman Empire.[22] The IAGS issued an open letter to Turkish state authorities in 2005 condemning denial,[23] and a 2006 open letter to others who deny the genocide.[24] In 2007, the IAGS executive board submitted a letter to the United States Congress in support of a resolution recognizing the genocide.[25]
- The genocide of the Kurds in Iraq, particularly the Anfal campaign[26]
- The Bangladesh genocide during the war of independence in 1971.[27] Out of 626 members, 218 (35%) took part in the voting. Of these 208 approved the resolution, four rejected it and six abstained from voting.[28]
- State-led atrocities against the Uyghurs in China[29]
- Mass violence and displacement targeting the Rohingya in Myanmar.[30] In 2022, the executive board condemned the banning of an IAGS member's scholarly work in Myanmar.[31]
- Mass atrocities committed during the Syrian Civil War[32]
- Genocide of Assyrians and Greeks during the late Ottoman period[33]
- Holocaust denial by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad[34]
- The Darfur genocide in western Sudan[35]
- Crimes committed by ISIS against religious and ethnic minorities, including the Yazidis, Christians, Shia Muslims, and Sunni Kurds[36]
- Political violence and repression in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe[37]
- The situation in Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion has also been addressed by the IAGS executive board.[38]
- Israel's policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.[39] Out of its 500 members, 28% took part in the vote and 86% of those who voted supported the resolution.[40]
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History
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According to the IAGS, its origin is based on the scholars who studied genocide in the 1980s including Helen Fein who published "Accounting for Genocide" in 1979[41] and Leo Kuper who published "Genocide" in 1982,[42] and a genocide conference organised by Israel Charny in Jerusalem in 1982.[43] The IAGS itself was created in 1994,[44]: 9 [45] initially with the name Association of Genocide Scholars and holding biennial conferences in the United States and Canada.[43] In 2001, the name was changed to International Association of Genocide Scholars along with a change in the bylaws requiring at least one officer to be from outside of North America, and that the biennial conferences be "regularly" held outside of North America.[43] The original group of scholars was small, with the first conference, held in June 1995 at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in the US, taking place in a single room with about fifty participants. According to Jack Nusan Porter, the Williamsburg conference included Porter reading a paper by his colleague Steven T. Katz that led to major controversy at the meeting about whether the Holocaust was "the only 'true' genocide".[46]: 257, 258
According to Porter, IAGS finances were managed "carelessly" prior to Porter becoming the treasurer in 2007 and Greg Stanton becoming president of the IAGS, which led to the financial management returning to "a firm footing".[46]: 258 During Stanton's presidency, IAGS leaders visited Erbil to prepare a conference in Brussels on the Anfal campaign, a massacre of Kurds in Iraq under Saddam Hussein that Porter views as a genocide.[46]: 259
A parallel genocide researchers' association, the International Network of Genocide Scholars (INoGS), was created in 2005. Jack Nusan Porter describes INoGS as a split from the IAGS, mainly by European researchers, for two reasons: the researchers who created INoGS viewed IAGS as concentrating too much on declarations rather than research; and a public conflict occurred between Israel Charny and Martin Shaw over the assessment of Israel's role in the Deir Yassin massacre and its occupation of Palestinian territories.[46]: 259–260 Charny described the creation of INoGS as occurring independently of IAGS, stating, "There was no prior collaboration with IAGS about the development of INOGS."[44]: 16
Another publishing split occurred with the creation of the journal Genocide Studies International, in association with the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights at the Zoryan Institute.[46]: 260
As of 2023[update], all IAGS conferences after 2011 had been held outside the US.[46]: 259 Conferences outside of North America include the 2011 IAGS conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with around 246 participants,[47] the 2015 conference held in Yerevan, Armenia, on the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian genocide and the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust,[13][43] and the 2017 conference held in Brisbane, Australia.[48] The IAGS held a virtual conference in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hosted by the University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.[44]: 13 It focused on the risks of conflicts and genocide that may be related to environmental destruction, climate change, and the world's population explosion.[citation needed]
The 2023 IAGS conference was scheduled to be held at the University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.[49] The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre is scheduled to host the 2025 IAGS conference in October 2025.[50]
Historically, the IAGS was criticized by some in the field who saw it as overly pro Western and incorrect that robust military intervention by the West was a successful tactic to prevent genocide, as well as the implicit assumption that Western countries were not the perpetrators of genocide. Jurgen Zimmerer argued that instead of genocide being an aberration, perhaps "the world system is itself the root cause of genocide". A number of scholars, including Zimmerer, founded INGOS as an alternative to the IAGS.[51]
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Structure and membership
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Jack Nusan Porter stated that the early membership of IAGS, during 1994–2007, was "mostly Jewish and Armenian, with some Israelis, and, of course, mostly male and all white."[46]: 257 By 2023, according to Porter, IAGS had become "fully international and no longer American or European-centred", with "all conferences since 2011 [held] outside the USA."[46]: 261
The IAGS describes its members as including "academic scholars, human rights activists, students, museum and memorial professionals, policymakers, educators, anthropologists, independent scholars, sociologists, artists, political scientists, economists, historians, international law scholars, psychologists, and literature and film scholars."[52] Despite the wide range of professions represented, the IAGS stated in early September 2025 that its membership was still composed primarily of "scholars/academics from a wide range of disciplines".[17]
In January 2012, IAGS stated that it had 339 members, about half from North America.[53] As of 2015[update], IAGS had about 500 members.[13] In October 2023, 150 members were listed publicly on the IAGS website,[54] 280 in April 2024,[55] and 440 on 1 September 2025.[56][57]
Founders and presidents
The four main founders of IAGS were Helen Fein, Israel Charny, Robert Melson, and Roger W. Smith,[46]: 255, 257 all four who have been president of IAGS. Reverse chronologically, the presidents have been:
- Melanie O'Brien (2021–present)[58][59][60]
- Henry Theriault (2017[48]–2021)
- Andrew Woolford (2015–2017)
- Daniel Feierstein (2013–2015)
- Alexander Hinton (2011–2013)[53]
- William Schabas (2009–2011)
- Gregory H. Stanton (2007–2009)
- Israel W. Charny (2005–2007)
- Robert Melson (2003–2005)
- Joyce Apsel (2001–2003)
- Frank Chalk (1999–2001)
- Roger W. Smith (1997–1999)
- Helen Fein (1995–1997)[44]: 9
Notable people
See also
References
External links
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