Eight Stages of Genocide and Preventing Genocide by Gregory Stanton, Genocide Watch May 2008

The Eight Stages of
Genocide
Dr. Gregory Stanton

Genocide Watch
2007 Gregory Stanton
The 8 Stages of Genocide
Understanding the genocidal process is

one of the most important steps in
preventing future genocides.
The Eight Stages of Genocide were first
outlined by Dr. Greg Stanton, Department
of State: 1996.
The first six stages are Early Warnings:
Classification
Symbolization
Dehumanization
Organization
Polarization
Preparation
Stage 1: Classification
Us versus them
Distinguish by nationality, ethnicity, race, or

religion.
Bipolar societies (Rwanda) most likely to have

genocide because no way for classifications to
fade away through inter-marriage.
Classification is a primary method of dividing

society and creating a power struggle between
groups.
Classification (Rwanda)
Belgian colonialists believed Tutsis were a naturally

superior nobility, descended from the Israelite tribe of
Ham. The Rwandan royalty was Tutsi.
Belgians distinguished between Hutus and Tutsis by nose

size, height & eye type. Another indicator to distinguish
Hutu farmers from Tutsi pastoralists was the number of
cattle owned.
Prevention: Classification
Promote common identities

(national, religious, human.)
Use common languages (Swahili in

Tanzania, science, music.)
Actively oppose racist and divisive

politicians and parties.
Stage 2: Symbolization
Names: Jew, German, Hutu,
Tutsi.
Languages.
Types of dress.
Group uniforms: Nazi Swastika

armbands
Colors and religious symbols:

Yellow star for Jews
Stage 2: Symbolization
(Rwanda)
Ethnicity was first
noted on cards by Belgian Colonial
Authorities in 1933.
Tutsis were given access to limited education programs

and Catholic priesthood. Hutus were given less assistance
by colonial auhorities.
At independence, these preferences were reversed. Hutus
were favored.
These ID cards were later used to distinguish Tutsis from
Hutus in the 1994 massacres of Tutsis and moderate
Hutus that resulted in 800,000+ deaths.
Symbolization (Nazi
Germany)
Jewish Passport: Reisepss
Required to be carried by all Jews by 1938. Preceded
the yellow star.
Symbolization (Nazi
Germany)
Nazis required
the yellow Star of David
emblem to be worn by nearly all Jews in

Nazi-occupied Europe by 1941.
Symbolization (Nazi
Germany)
Homosexuals = pink triangles
Identified homosexuals to SS guards in the
camps
Caused discrimination by fellow inmates
who shunned homosexuals
Symbolization
(Cambodia)
People in the Eastern

Zone, near Vietnam,
were accused of
having Khmer
bodies, but
Vietnamese heads.
They were deported
to other areas to be
worked to death.
They were marked
with a blue and white
checked scarf
(Kroma)
Prevention:
Symbolization
Get ethnic, religious, racial, and

national identities removed from ID
cards, passports.
Protest imposition of marking symbols
on targeted groups (yellow cloth on
Hindus in Taliban Afghanistan).
Protest negative or racist words for
groups (niggers, kaffirs, etc.) Work to
make them culturally unacceptable.
Stage 3: Dehumanization
One group denies the humanity of another

group, and makes the victim group seem
subhuman.
Dehumanization overcomes the normal human

revulsion against murder.
Der Strmer Nazi

Newspaper:
The Blood Flows; The Jew
Grins
Kangura Newspaper,
Rwanda: The Solution for
Tutsi Cockroaches
Dehumanization
From a Nazi SS Propaganda
Pamphlet:
Caption: Does the same soul dwell in these

bodies?
Dehumanization
Hate propaganda in speeches, print and on hate

radios vilify the victim group.
Members of the victim group are described as

animals, vermin, and diseases. Hate radio, Radio
Tlvision Libre des Mille Collines, during the Rwandan

genocide in 1994, broadcast anti-Tutsi messages like kill
the cockroaches and If this disease is not treated
immediately, it will destroy all the Hutu.
Dehumanization invokes superiority of one group

and inferiority of the other.
Dehumanization justifies murder by calling it ethnic

cleansing, or purification. Such euphemisms
hide the horror of mass murder.
Prevention:
Dehumanization
Vigorously protest use of

dehumanizing words that refer to
people as filth, vermin, animals
or diseases. Deny people using
such words visas and freeze their
foreign assets and contributions.
Prosecute hate crimes and
incitements to commit genocide.
Jam or shut down hate radio and
television stations where there is
danger of genocide.
Prevention:
Dehumanization
Provide programs for tolerance

to radio, TV, and newspapers.
Enlist religious and political
leaders to speak out and educate
for tolerance.
Organize inter-ethnic, interfaith,
and inter-racial groups to work
against hate and genocide.
Stage 4: Organization
Genocide is a group crime, so must be organized.

The state usually organizes, arms and financially
supports the groups that conduct the genocidal
massacres. (State organization is not a legal
requirement --Indian partition.)
Plans are made by elites for a final solution of
genocidal killings.
Organization (Rwanda)
Hutu Power elites

armed youth militias
called Interahamwe
("Those Who Stand
Together).
The government and

Hutu Power
businessmen provided
the militias with over
500,000 machetes and
other arms and set up
camps to train them to
protect their villages
by exterminating every
Tutsi.
Prevention: Organization
Treat genocidal groups as the organized

crime groups they are. Make membership
in them illegal and demand that their
leaders be arrested.
Deny visas to leaders of hate groups and
freeze their foreign assets.
Impose arms embargoes on hate groups
and governments supporting ethnic or
religious hatred.
Create UN commissions to enforce such
arms embargoes and call on UN members
to arrest arms merchants who violate
them.
Stage 5: Polarization
Extremists drive the groups apart.

Hate groups broadcast and print polarizing
propaganda.
Laws are passed that forbid intermarriage or social
interaction.
Political moderates are silenced, threatened and
Public
intimidated, and killed.
demonstrations
were organized
against Jewish
merchants.
Moderate
German dissenters
were the first to be
arrested and sent
to concentration
camps.
Polarization
Attacks are
staged and
blamed on
targeted groups.
In Germany, the Reichstag
fire was blamed on Jewish
Communists in 1933.
Cultural centers
of targeted
groups are
attacked.
On Kristalnacht in 1938,
hundreds of synagogues
were burned.
Prevention: Polarization
Vigorously protest laws or policies that

segregate or marginalize groups, or that
deprive whole groups of citizenship rights.
Physically protect moderate leaders, by use

of armed guards and armored vehicles.
Demand the release of moderate leaders if

they are arrested. Demand and conduct
investigations if they are murdered.
Oppose coups dtat by extremists.
Stage 6: Preparation
Members of victim
groups are forced to
wear identifying
symbols.
Death lists are
made.
Victims are
separated
because of their
ethnic or religious
identity.
Preparation
Segregation into
ghettoes is
imposed, victims
are forced into
concentration
camps.
Victims are also

deported to faminestruck regions for
starvation.
Forced Resettlement
into Ghettos Poland
1939 - 1942
Preparation
Weapons
killing
piled.
are
for
stock-
Extermination
camps are even
built. This buildup of killing

capacity is a major
step towards actual
genocide.
Prevention: Preparation
With evidence of death lists, arms

shipments, militia training, and trial
massacres, a Genocide Alert should be
declared.
UN Security Council should warn it will act

(but only if it really will act.)
Diplomats must warn potential perpetrators.
Humanitarian relief should be prepared.
Military intervention forces should be

organized, including logistics and financing.
Stage 7: Extermination
(Genocide)
Extermination
Extermination
begins, and
becomes the
mass killing
legally called
"genocide."
Most genocide
is committed by
governments. Einsatzgrupen: Nazi Killing
Squads
Extermination
(Genocide)
Government organized
extermination of Tutsis in
Rwanda in 1994
Extermination
(Genocide)
The killing is
extermination
to the killers
because they
do not believe
the victims are
fully human.
They are
cleansing the
society of
impurities,
disease,
animals,
Roma (Gypsies) in a
Nazi death camp
Extermination
(Genocide)
Although most
genocide is
sponsored and
financed by the
state, the armed
forces often
work with local
militias.
Rwandan militia killing

squads
Nazi killing squad
working with local
Extermination: Stopping
Genocide
Regional organizations, national

governments, and the UN Security Council
should impose targeted sanctions to
undermine the economic viability of the
perpetrator regime.
Sales of oil and imports of gasoline should
be stopped by blockade of ports and land
routes.
Perpetrators should be indicted by the
International Criminal Court.
Extermination: Stopping
Genocide
The UN Security Council should authorize

armed intervention by regional military
forces or by a UN force under Chapter Seven
of the UN Charter.
The Mandate must include protection of civilians

and humanitarian workers and a No Fly Zone.
The Rules of Engagement must be robust and
include aggressive prevention of killing.
The major military powers must provide
leadership, logistics, airlift, communications, and
financing.
If the state where the genocide is underway will
not permit entry, its UN membership should be
suspended.
Stage 8: Denial
Denial is always found in genocide, both

during it and after it.
Continuing denial is among the surest
indicators of further genocidal massacres.
Denial extends the crime of genocide to
future generations of the victims. It is a
continuation of the intent to destroy the
group.
The tactics of denial are predictable.
Denial: Deny the

Evidence.
Deny that there was any mass killing

at all.
Question and minimize the statistics.
Block access to archives and

witnesses.
Intimidate or kill eye-witnesses.
Denial: Deny the

Evidence
Destroy the evidence. (Burn the
bodies and the archives, dig up

and burn the mass graves, throw
bodies in rivers or seas.)
Holocaust Death-Camp
Crematoria
Denial: Attack the truthtellers.
Attack the motives of the truthtellers. Say they are opposed to the
religion, ethnicity, or nationality of
the deniers.
Point out atrocities committed by

people from the truth-tellers group.
Imply they are morally disqualified
to accuse the perpetrators.
Denial: Deny Genocidal

Intent.
Claim that the deaths were

inadvertent (due to famine,
migration, or disease.)
Blame out of control forces
for the killings.
Blame the deaths on ancient
ethnic conflicts.
Denial: Blame the

Victims.
Emphasize the strangeness of the

victims. They are not like us.
(savages, infidels)
Claim they were disloyal
insurgents in a war.
Call it a civil war, not genocide.
Claim that the deniers group also
suffered huge losses in the war.
The killings were in self-defense.
Denial: Deny for current

interests.
Avoid upsetting the peace process.

Look to the future, not to the past.
Deny to assure benefits of relations
with the perpetrators or their
descendents. (oil, arms sales,
alliances, military bases)
Dont threaten humanitarian
assistance to the victims, who are
receiving good treatment. (Show the
model Thereisenstadt IDP camp.)
Denial: Deny facts fit legal definition

of genocide.
Theyre crimes against humanity, not

genocide.
Theyre ethnic cleansing, not genocide.
Theres not enough proof of specific intent
to destroy a group, as such. (Many
survived!UN Commission of Inquiry on Darfur.)
Claim the only real genocides are like the
Holocaust: in whole.
(Ignore the in part in the Genocide
Convention.)
Claim declaring genocide would legally
obligate us to intervene. (We dont want to
intervene.)
Preventing Genocide
By Dr. Gregory Stanton

Copyright 2007 Gregory Stanton
Why has the UN not stopped

genocide ?
Genocide succeeds when state

sovereignty blocks international
responsibility to protect.
The UN represents states, not peoples.
Since founding of UN:

Over 45 genocides and politicides
Over 70 million dead
Genocide prevention conflict

resolution
Prevention requires:
1. Early
warning
2. Rapid
response
3. Courts for
accountability
Genocide continues due to:

Lack of authoritative international
institutions to predict it
Lack of ready rapid response forces to
UNAMIR peacekeeper in Rwanda,

April 1994
Genocide continues due to:

Lack of political will to
peacefully prevent it
and to forcefully intervene to
stop it
UN Security Council votes to

withdraw
UNAMIR troops from Rwanda, April
Memorial to 800,000 Rwandans

murdered,
April July, 1994
Halabja, Kurdistan, Iraq

Memorial to 5000 killed in chemical attack 16
March 1988. 182,000 Kurds died in Anfal
genocide.
Prevention: Political Will
Build an international mass movement to

end genocide in this century.
Organize civil society and human rights
groups.
Mobilize religious leaders of churches,
mosques, synagogues, and temples.
Put genocide education in curricula of every
secondary school and university in the world.
Hold political leaders accountable. If they fail
to act to stop genocide, vote them out of
office.
Never Again? Or Again

and Again?
How can we use the 8

Stages of Genocide to
develop more effective
ways to prevent genocide
in the future?
Would it be useful for the

UN to establish a Genocide
Prevention Center to work
with the Special Adviser
for Genocide Prevention?
Even with Early Warning,

how can we achieve
effective Early Response to
prevent and stop
genocide?

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What are the 8 stages of genocide according to the document?

What are the 8 stages of genocide according to the document?

How does classification help divide society and create power struggles between groups?

How does classification help divide society and create power struggles between groups?

The Eight Stages of

Dr. Gregory Stanton

2007 Gregory Stanton

The 8 Stages of Genocide

Understanding the genocidal process is

Distinguish by nationality, ethnicity, race, or

Bipolar societies (Rwanda) most likely to have

Classification is a primary method of dividing

Belgian colonialists believed Tutsis were a naturally

Belgians distinguished between Hutus and Tutsis by nose

Promote common identities

Use common languages (Swahili in

Actively oppose racist and divisive

Names: Jew, German, Hutu,

Group uniforms: Nazi Swastika

Colors and religious symbols:

Tutsis were given access to limited education programs

emblem to be worn by nearly all Jews in

People in the Eastern

Get ethnic, religious, racial, and

One group denies the humanity of another

Dehumanization overcomes the normal human

Der Strmer Nazi

Caption: Does the same soul dwell in these

Hate propaganda in speeches, print and on hate

Members of the victim group are described as

Tlvision Libre des Mille Collines, during the Rwandan

Dehumanization invokes superiority of one group

Dehumanization justifies murder by calling it ethnic

Vigorously protest use of

Provide programs for tolerance

Genocide is a group crime, so must be organized.

Hutu Power elites

The government and

Treat genocidal groups as the organized

Extremists drive the groups apart.

Vigorously protest laws or policies that

Physically protect moderate leaders, by use

Demand the release of moderate leaders if

Oppose coups dtat by extremists.

Death lists are

Victims are also

built. This buildup of killing

With evidence of death lists, arms

UN Security Council should warn it will act

Humanitarian relief should be prepared.

Military intervention forces should be

Rwandan militia killing

Regional organizations, national

The UN Security Council should authorize

The Mandate must include protection of civilians

Denial is always found in genocide, both

Denial: Deny the

Deny that there was any mass killing

Question and minimize the statistics.

Block access to archives and