Human Rights and the Law

I've been reviewing RAFAEL LEMKIN'S life this week, thanks to Samantha Powers' book A Problem From Hell. Found out the best way to prevent self-pity during an idle week is to read about genocide in the 20th century.

Lemkin's known for coining the word "genocide" and lobbying to make it against the law. What's most astounding is the silence he faced as he warned world leaders of the early 20th genocides before they occurred.

I had known that Lemkin had many family members killed during the Holocaust, and that he worked for years trying to convince the U.N. to create an anti-Genocide Law. What I didn't know was that much of his genocide research and presentations occurred before WWII, speaking at int'l crim law conferences, being kicked out of conferences, and trying to convince leaders that the atrocities of the Armenian genocide were about to happen again in Germany.

• In a short speech about Human Rights and the Law, and U.S. (non)response to genocides, Senator Durbin tells a moving summary of Rafael Lemkin (@ min 10 in). Video: http://tinyurl.com/5hfvhp

• In a great graduation speech by Samantha Powers, you can read her path to becoming a human rights leader - that she didn't set out to be "the author of long books on dark topics," but instead kept following her path of research from law school. Link (thanks Bethany): http://tinyurl.com/6p8w4p