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international law and genocide ; non-retroactivity of treaties ; colonial violence and historical responsibility ; subsequent state practice ; judicial determination of genocide
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International legal constraints may partly explain states’ reluctance to recognize the 1915 massacres of Armenians as genocide. The principle of non-retroactivity precludes applying the Genocide Convention to events that occurred before its adoption in 1948. Nonetheless, evolving state practice could ultimately lead to a gradual shift toward retrospective application, thereby highlighting the risk that formal recognition might compel states to confront their own colonial or genocidal pasts. A notable correlation thus appears: states that actively engage in reckoning with colonial injustices are more inclined to characterize the Armenian events as genocide, whereas those still entangled in unresolved debates over their colonial or violent histories tend to abstain from recognition. Furthermore, some governments invoke the requirement of a judicial determination of genocide as a precondition for recognition, relying on a supposed legal constraint that, in fact, has no foundation in the Genocide Convention.
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Երևան
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ՀՀ ԳԱԱ Հայոց ցեղասպանության թանգարան-ինստիտուտ