Physical, Cultural and Environmental Destruction in West Papua: Re-examining the UN Genocide Convention

印尼在西巴布亚（West Papua）的殖民统治在过去50年造成约50万原住民被杀，这让我们有必要重新审视《联合国种族灭绝公约》（UN Genocide Convention），因为它无法保护文化少数群体。这个社会-法律人权研究项目采用跨学科方法探讨《公约》对种族灭绝的法律定义中存在的缺陷，这些缺陷导致该公约未能保护西巴布亚的土著人民。该项目与历史、社会学、人权法和绿色犯罪学相互作用，利用受种族灭绝研究最新成果启发的镜头，分析西巴布亚的案例研究。这项调查将；参与围绕种族灭绝定义的最新法律和理论辩论，帮助审查《公约》当前的有效性，提供重新构想《公约》的重要机会，提供关于印度尼西亚对西巴布亚殖民的宝贵信息。种族灭绝的法律定义仅侧重于种族灭绝的肉体性。然而，最近的学术研究表明，这个词的创造者拉斐尔·莱姆金（Raphael Lemkin）更关心文化的丧失——“一个国家灵魂的圣地”——而不是身体上的杀戮，因为在他的种族灭绝概念中，正是文化赋予了“genos”活力。在此过程中，通过将文化置于灭绝种族研究中心的跨学科研究，灭绝种族研究领域重新焕发活力，解决文化遭到破坏的文化少数群体的利害关系- -他们社会存在的根本结构。随后，由于许多土著群体表现出与土地的文化关系，生态灭绝的概念被引入到种族灭绝研究中，发展出环境破坏可能导致这些群体发生“生态诱发的种族灭绝”的观点。因此，西巴布亚将首次使用这种以文化为中心，以生态为参与的种族灭绝镜头进行分析，以提供对这一研究不足的案例研究，我们对种族灭绝的理解以及如何修改公约的独家见解。西巴布亚为分析《公约》的缺点提供了一个独特的案例研究。它是世界上文化和生态最多样化的地区之一，拥有250个土著群体，资源丰富，拥有世界上最大的金矿和第二大铜矿。此外，西巴布亚强烈主张其自决权，并于2017年向联合国提交了180万个签名，而印度尼西亚尚未批准该公约。此外，西巴布亚的占领继续导致侵犯人权的报告，包括化学武器攻击，突出了这个项目的迫切需要和相关性。没有其他研究适用于西巴布亚的这一镜头，因此，该项目在提供关于文化、环境和种族灭绝之间关系的关键观察以及这如何影响种族灭绝法方面是至关重要的。该项目将回答以下研究问题；《公约》在哪些方面未能保护文化少数群体？以文化为中心，以生态为参与的种族灭绝镜头如何有助于理解印度尼西亚殖民对西巴布亚土著人民的影响？一个以文化为中心、注重生态的大会是什么样的？为了回答这些问题，该项目将涉及对种族灭绝的法律和理论概念进行广泛的文献审查，以确定镜头的位置，并与土著西巴布亚人进行半结构化访谈，以了解文化和环境破坏的影响。这将使该项目能够了解《公约》目前的缺点，分析如何使用这一种族灭绝镜头，并设想一项替代公约可能是什么样子。

Indonesia's colonisation of West Papua has resulted in the killing of an estimated 500,000 indigenous people in the last fifty years, presenting a necessity to re-examine the UN Genocide Convention for its inability to protect cultural minorities. This socio-legal human rights research project uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore shortcomings in the Convention's legal definition of genocide that has resulted in its failure to protect the indigenous people of West Papua. Interacting with history, sociology, human rights law and green criminology, the project utilises a lens inspired by the latest in genocide research to analyse the case study of West Papua. This investigation will; engage with the latest legal and theoretical debates surrounding the definition of genocide, help to examine the current effectiveness of the Convention, provide an essential opportunity to reimagine the Convention, provide invaluable information on Indonesia's colonisation of West Papua. The legal definition of genocide focusses solely on the physicality of genocide. However, recent scholarship has demonstrated that the term's creator, Raphael Lemkin, was more concerned with the loss of culture - 'the shrines of the soul of a nation' - than with physical killing, since it is culture that animates the 'genos' in his concept of genocide. In doing so, the field of genocide studies has been reinvigorated through interdisciplinary research that places culture at the centre of genocide studies, addressing what is at stake for cultural minorities whose culture is destroyed - the very fabric of their social existence. Subsequently, as many indigenous groups present a cultural relationship to land, the concept of ecocide has been introduced to genocide studies, developing the idea that environmental destruction can cause an "ecologically induced genocide" on these groups. Therefore, West Papua will be analysed using this culturally-centred, ecologically-engaged genocide lens for the first time to provide exclusive insights into this under-researched case study, our understanding of genocide, and how the Convention can be revised. West Papua provides a unique case study to analyse the shortcomings of the Convention. It is one of the most culturally and ecologically diverse regions in the world with 250 indigenous groups and is resource-rich with the world's largest gold and second-largest copper mine. Additionally, West Papua has strongly advocated for its right to self-determination and presented 1.8 million signatures to the UN in 2017, while Indonesia has not yet ratified the Convention. Furthermore, the occupation of West Papua continues to result in reports of human rights abuses including chemical weapons attacks, highlighting the urgent need and relevance of this project. No other study applies this lens within West Papua, thus, the project is fundamental in providing critical observations about the nexus between culture, the environment and genocide, and how this can impact the law of genocide. The project will answer the following research questions; In what way does the Convention fail to protect cultural minorities? How can a culturally-centred, ecologically-engaged genocide lens be useful to understand the effects of Indonesian colonisation on the indigenous people of West Papua? What would a culturally-centred, ecologically-engaged convention look like? To answer these questions the project will involve an extensive literature review of the legal and theoretical concepts of genocide to situate the lens and undertake semi-structured interviews with indigenous West Papuans to understand the impact of cultural and environmental destruction. This will enable the project to understand the current shortcomings of the Convention, analyse how this genocide lens could be used and imagine what an alternative convention could look like.