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

印度尼西亚对西巴布亚的殖民统治在过去50年中已导致约50万土著人民被杀害，这表明有必要重新审查联合国灭绝种族公约是否无法保护文化少数群体。这一社会法律人权研究项目采用跨学科方法，探讨《公约》关于灭绝种族的法律定义中的缺陷，这些缺陷导致公约未能保护西巴布亚土著人民。该项目与历史学、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启发的镜头来分析西巴布亚的案例研究。这项调查将参与有关灭绝种族定义的最新法律和理论辩论，有助于审查《公约》目前的效力，提供重新设想《公约》的重要机会，提供关于印度尼西亚殖民西巴布亚的宝贵信息。种族灭绝的法律定义仅侧重于种族灭绝的肉体。然而，最近的学术研究表明，这个词的创建者拉斐尔·莱姆金更关心文化的丧失--一个民族的灵魂的圣殿，而不是肉体上的杀戮，因为是文化赋予了他种族灭绝概念中的“天才”活力。在这样做的过程中，种族灭绝研究领域通过跨学科研究重振了活力，这些研究将文化置于灭绝种族研究的中心，解决其文化被摧毁的文化少数群体的利害关系--他们的社会存在的结构。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灭绝种族研究，形成了这样一种想法，即环境破坏可能导致对这些群体的“生态引发的种族灭绝”。因此，将首次使用这种以文化为中心、以生态为中心的灭绝种族视角来分析西巴布亚，以便为这一研究不足的案例研究、我们对灭绝种族的理解以及如何修订《公约》提供独家见解。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，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，西巴布亚大力倡导其自决权，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，对西巴布亚的占领继续导致对包括化学武器袭击在内的侵犯人权行为的报道，突出了这一项目的迫切需要和现实意义。没有其他研究将这一视角应用于西巴布亚，因此，该项目对于提供关于文化、环境和种族灭绝之间的联系以及这如何影响种族灭绝法的批判性观察至关重要。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、以生态为中心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、以生态为中心的大会会是什么样子？为了回答这些问题，该项目将涉及对灭绝种族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，并对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》目前的不足之处，分析如何使用这一种族灭绝的镜头，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.