Can the world stop genocide?

Can the world stop genocide?

That was the question posed by a BBC journalist recently.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7043411.stm

Being a Tamil from the North East of Sri Lanka, all I can say is, the world fails miserably to stop genocides because it refuses to initially identify a genocide when signs of genocide first emerges.

Genocide as defined by Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is:

“Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Going by this very definition, it is does seem like what is imposed on the Tamils in Sri Lanka is a genocide. Everyday, Tamils are either ‘disappeared’, killed, kidnapped for ransom, or arrested. It is without a doubt that Tamils thorough out the island live in constant fear. The government bars any of sort of basic necessities from reaching thousands of Tamils. It air raids hospitals, schools, markets, and many other public places – all in the name of fighting “Terrorism.”

How many Tamil areas have been captured by the Sri Lankan Army, and how many have been converted in to High Security Zones? How many areas have been made inaccessible to the Tamils over the years? How many other lands have been colonized by the Sinhalese?

The Sri Lankan government since independence has taken many measures to eliminate Tamils from Sri Lanka. They took away the jobs they worked hard to obtain. They took away their right to education. They took away their lands. Then they started killing them…

When the world finally discovered there was something going on in Sri Lanka and asked what’s happening, the Sri Lankan Government said “We are fighting terrorism.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence against government atrocities, the world seems to have accepted this answer. Worse still – it provides military, and financial aid to the government in this regard.

Perhaps, when the number on this line “More than 70,000 people have been killed in violence since 1983” which is often quoted by news agencies changes from 70 000 people killed to hundreds of thousands or even a million killed, then perhaps, the world will recognize it as a genocide.

That, precisely, is the problem with genocides. The world never recognizes a genocide until a huge number of the population has been killed.

How can you stop a genocide, when you acknowledge a genocide only after hundreds of thousands have perished?