25580 - The strategy of recognition

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Th. Tsiamitas

The strategy of recognition in the field of genocide should not be based exclusively on the perpetrator, but to be established with Mankind. For many years, many of our people thought that most important is recognition by the perpetrator, while the essence lies at the level of Mankind. Let’s imagine a genocide which is recognized only by the perpetrator, and no one else, in order to realize how little value that would have. The continuity of Lemkin’s work with his coining of the term genocide it is not just the recognition, but through the UN’s Charter, the Rights of Humanity because she is the target of a genocide and not just a particular people. Therefore our strategy should not be enclosed on the perpetrator, because he will be the first obstacle. The lateral thinking shows that it is preferable to inform the others who will subsequently put pressure on him from many sides. In this manner, the pressure for recognition is multiplied exponentially. In the meantime, for the same reason, we too have to effectively and officially recognize genocides of other people and in fact to even take initiatives towards this direction, because this way we activate a human network that has an incomparable power, in order to achieve new results which seem inconceivable through a simplistic and linear approach. This has to be in our program when we deal with genocides, so that we subsequently are able to appoint the issue of the Rights of Humanity to the United Nations without restrictions due to the phobias of the victims.