This book has explored the European approach to genocide, beginning first with an analysis of European governments' attitudes towards the development of the legal norm against genocide, and then an analysis of their responses to various purported or proven genocides since the end of the Second World War, including four studies of the cases of Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur. This chapter first reviews the main findings of this study, and then considers what European attitudes and practice might mean for the development of the legal and social norms against genocide.

The Europeans and genocide

As seen in Chapter 2, the attitude of European governments in the negotiations on the Genocide Convention were quite varied. The UK's hostility stands out, though the reticence of the Netherlands is also noteworthy. To be fair, some of the criticisms both governments made of the Convention do ring true, sixty years on, such as Shawcross's argument that ‘genocide committed by States was punishable only by war’ or Stikker's contention that ‘the treaty would thus have little effect where it is most needed and would be abused for purposes of propaganda where it is needed least’. Many contemporary critics of the Convention might concur that is a ‘useless’ document and some might even agree that it was ‘a complete waste of time’ to negotiate it and that it added little to international human rights law.