The Scandinavian Countries and the UN Genocide Convention, 1946–58: Constructive Pragmatism of the “Lesser” Democracies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the position that three Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Norway, and Denmark – had assumed on the newly proposed crime of genocide and an international convention that addressed it. While the Great Powers’ politics vis-à-vis the draft Genocide Convention have been examined in detail, points of contestation and major concerns of so-called lesser democracies remain largely unexplored. Within the context of the UN Genocide Convention, the Scandinavian countries lived up to their reputation of democracies guided by the rule of law, yet with a caveat. The tenor of the interoffice discussions in the respective ministries in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo somewhat differed from the official statements of the representatives of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in the United Nations. In aligning the provisions of the draft convention with the domestic legislation, the Scandinavian governments displayed the manifest lack of idealism. They regarded the passing of the Genocide Convention as an important milestone, though not at any cost. When it comes to evaluating the overall performance of each of the three Scandinavian countries, Denmark largely remained on sidelines. Norway approached the drafting of the Genocide Convention from a perspective of the national law. On the skepticism curve, Denmark (alongside Belgium and the United Kingdom) scored the highest. Norway was not far behind, though publicly it positioned itself as a principled supporter of the Genocide Convention (not unlike the United States). Sweden, then, belonged among the undecided. Significantly, due to the adopted policy of sustaining international cooperation, the Scandinavian countries did not follow the great powers in openly voicing their skepticism toward the Genocide Convention. Of the three Scandinavian delegations, the Norwegian had most consistently taken the middle road in order to ensure the broadest possible support for the Genocide Convention.

KEYWORDS:

• Genocide convention
• United Nations
• Raphael Lemkin
• international criminal law
• domestic legislation
• Scandinavia
• Norway
• Sweden
• Denmark

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Lawrernce J. LeBlanc, The United States and the Genocide Convention (Durham: Duke University Press, 1991), William A. Schabas, Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); Anton Weiss-Wendt, The Soviet Union and the Gutting of the UN Genocide Convention (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2017); idem, Documents on the Genocide Convention from the American, British, and Russian Archives, 2 vols. (London: Bloomsbury, 2018).

2 Finland is commonly considered a part of Scandinavia as well. Since Finland had fought in the Second World War on the side of the Axis powers, it was not among the fifty countries that had signed under the UN Charter in 1945. Finland applied for the UN membership in 1947, yet attained it only in 1955. Finland became party to the Genocide Convention in 1959.

3 Cf. Hanne Hagtvet et al., “Histories of Human Rights in the Nordic Countries,” Nordic Journal of Human Rights 36, no. 3 (2018); Steven L. B. Jensen, “Evolving Internationalism: Denmark and Human Rights Politics,” Nordic Journal of Human Rights 36, no. 3 (2018).

4 Mikkel Jarle Christensen, “Defending the North and Exporting Its Criminal Justice: The Reproduction of Nordic Criminal Justice Cohesion in a Global World,” in Nordic Criminal Justice in a Global Context, ed. Mikkel Jarle Christensen et al. (London: Routledge, 2022), 24–38. See also, John Pratt, “Scandinavian Exceptionalism in an Era of Penal Excess,” The British Journal of Criminology 48, no. 2 (2008): 119–37.

5 Mark Klamberg, “Nordic Perspectives on International Criminal Law and International Humanitarian Law,” in Nordic Criminal Justice in a Global Context, 55–76.

6 Totally Unofficial: The Autobiography of Raphael Lemkin, ed. Donna-Lee Frieze (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 121.

7 Norwegian Foreign Ministry (Lunde) to the Justice and Police Ministry, 18 February 1947, Norwegian National Archives (hereafter: NRA), S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

8 Norwegian Foreign Ministry, memorandum, 13 March 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001. See also Raphael Lemkin, “Forbrytelsen Genocid (Folkemord),” Samtiden 55 (1946): 494–501. That same year, Lemkin published a similar article in The American Scholar and Revue de droit penal et de criminologie.

9 Norwegian delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 8 August 1947; idem, addendum: genocide, 8 August 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

10 Norwegian delegation to the UN (Seyersted) to the Foreign Ministry, addendum: convention on genocide, 23 July 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

11 Norway: Wikborg, Sixth Committee, 7 October 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, eds. Hirad Abtahi and Philippa Webb (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008), 1360.

12 Norwegian delegation to the UN (Seyersted) to the Foreign Ministry, addendum: convention on genocide, 23 July 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

13 Comments by the Governments: Norway, 9 April 1948 [3 October 1947], The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 633–34.

14 Norwegian Foreign Ministry, draft report, “The United Nations: Extermination of Population Groups,” 29 August 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

15 Norwegian Foreign Ministry to the Norwegian delegation to the UN, 29 August 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

16 Norwegian Justice and Police Ministry (Gundersen) to the Foreign Ministry, 29 August 1947, NRA, /S-2259/Dye/L10961.

17 Comments by the Governments: Denmark, 4 December 1947, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 557.

18 USA: Fahy, ECOSOC, 12 February 1948; Denmark: Borberg, ECOSOC, 13 February 1948; Venezuela: Perez Perozo, 21 February 1948; Denmark: Friis, ECOSOC, 21 February 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 583, 595, 603.

19 Norwegian delegation to the UN (Seyersted) to the Foreign Ministry, 23 July 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001. The delegation mistakenly related that the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg had prosecuted genocide committed in German-occupied territories.

20 Norwegian Foreign Ministry to the Justice and Police Ministry, 7 August 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

21 Norwegian delegation to the UN (Seyersted) to the Foreign Ministry, addendum: convention on genocide, 23 July 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

22 Norwegian parliament, proposition no. 56 re. ratification of the Genocide Convention, addendum: Norwegian Justice and Police Ministry to the Foreign Ministry, 26 August 1948, NRA, S-1275/D/Da/L0094/0009.

23 Norway: Wikborg; USSR: Morozov, Sixth Committee, 13 October 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1383, 1386, 1389.

24 Sweden: Petrén, Sixth Committee, 20 October, 5–6, 9 November 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1462–63, 1594–95, 1613–14, 1617, 1666.

25 Norwegian Foreign Ministry, draft report, “The United Nations: Extermination of Population Groups,” 29 August 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

26 Denmark: Friis, ECOSOC, 26 August 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1236–37.

27 Danish delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 10 November 1948, Danish National Archives (hereafter: DRA), 304/0002/18728.

28 Denmark: Federspiel, Sixth Committee, 5 November 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1604.

29 Erling Wikborg, UN radio interview, 11 October 1948, UN Audiovisual Library of International Law, Genocide Convention – Interview with Mr. Erling Wikborg | UN Web TV.

30 Sweden: Petrén, Sixth Committee, 9, 11, 30 November, 1 December 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1683–84, 1718–l9, 1884, 1898, 1913.

31 Norwegian Foreign Ministry, draft report, “The United Nations: Extermination of Population Groups,” 29 August 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

32 The International Law Commission adopted the Code of Offenses against the Peace and Security of Mankind – of which article 17 deals with genocide – only in 1996, after fifty years of deliberations.

33 Sture Petrén, report on the draft Genocide Convention from the vantage point of the Swedish penal law, 28 August 1947, Swedish National Archives (hereafter: SRA), SE/RA/320798/-/86.

34 Secretary of the Swedish Penal Law Commission, Nils Beckman, proposal re. the question of racial hatred, 4 September 1947, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/86. The Sami is a native population who have traditionally settled in the northern parts of Scandinavia. About half of an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Sami reside in Norway. Beginning in mid-nineteenth century, the Sami had been victim to the policy of forced assimilation by means of religious conversion and schooling.

35 Sweden: Petrén, Sixth Committee, 25 October 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1506. Cf. the speech of the South African representative, who referred to “primitive or backward groups,” without specifying.

36 Gerhard Simson, whitepaper, “The Term Genocide,” 20 September 1950, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88. Simson has been working with Karl Schlyter. See Jan-Olof Sundell, “Karl Schlyter: A Swedish Lawyer and Politician,” Scandinavian Studies in Law 40 (2000): 511.

37 Danish delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 10 November 1948, DRA, 304/0002/18728.

38 Summary of the speech of the parliament member Per Federspiel in the Sixth Committee [fall 1948], DRA, 304/0002/18728.

39 Denmark: Federspiel, Sixth Committee, 25 October 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1508.

40 Quoted in Even Sebastian Skallerud, “Acts Shocking to the Conscience of Mankind: Why Norway Voted to Delete Cultural Genocide from the 1948 Genocide Convention,” MA Thesis (University of Oslo, 2019), 17.

41 On the German word Völkermord, see Kurt Jonassohn and Karin Solveig Björnson, Genocide and Human Rights Violations in Comparative Perspective (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1998), 140.

42 Ruth Amir, “Cultural Genocide in Canada? It Happened Here,” Aboriginal Policy Studies 7, no. 1 (2018): 109.

43 Norwegian delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 8 August 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

44 Speech held by attorney Wikborg on 7 October 1948, in the Sixth Committee on behalf of the Norwegian delegation, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

45 Norwegian Foreign Ministry to the Justice and Police Ministry, 12 October 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001. Norwegian position on political groups was similar to that of the United States. See, Weiss-Wendt, The Soviet Union, 102–3.

46 Petrén, report on the draft Genocide Convention from the vantage point of the Swedish penal law, 28 August 1947, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/86.

47 Sweden: Petrén, Sixth Committee, 7 October 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1357.

48 King Gustaf Adolf, proposition no. 71 re. ratification of the Genocide Convention, 22 February 1952, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88.

49 Danish delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 10 November 1948, DRA, 304/0002/18728.

50 Danish delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 28 November 1948, DRA, 304/0002/18728.

51 Sweden: Petrén, Sixth Committee, 13, 15 October 1948, The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires, 1389, 1412.

52 Heléne Lööw och Lotta Nilsson, Hets mot folkgrupp, report (Stockholm: Brottsförebyggande rådet, 2001), 11–12. See a sample of Åberg’s antisemitic publications in SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/86. Åberg became the first individual to ever be convicted under the new Swedish law, giving it the moniker – Lex Åberg. Adopted in 1948, the law provided for a punishment for up to six months of prison. See a sample of Åberg’s antisemitic publications in SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/86.

53 Secretary of the Swedish Penal Law Commission, Beckman, proposal re. the question of racial hatred, 4 September 1947, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/86.

54 Swedish Justice Ministry, proposal for a law against defamation vis-à-vis ethnic groups, 15 October 1947, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/86.

55 Ibid.

56 LeBlanc, The United States, 75–78.

57 Norwegian delegation to the UN (Seyersted) to the Foreign Ministry, 23 July 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

58 Jakob Sverdrup, Inn i storpolitikken, 1940–1949 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1996), 199–208.

59 Kristen Amby, report from the United Nations, 23 November 1948, DRA, 304/0002/18728.

60 Representatives of the Baltic governments in exile to the President of the UN General Assembly, 20 October 1948, DRA, 304/0002/18728.

61 See, for example, Gerhard Simson, whitepaper, “The Term Genocide,” 20 September 1950, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88.

62 Summary of the speech of the parliament member Per Federspiel in the Sixth Committee [fall 1948], DRA, 304/0002/18728.

63 Danish delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 10 November 1948, DRA, 304/0002/18728.

64 Norwegian Delegation to the UN to the Foreign Office, 13 December 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0002.

65 Norwegian parliament, proposition no. 56 re. ratification of the Genocide Convention, report by foreign minister Halvard Lange, 31 March 1949, NRA, S-1275/D/Da/L0094/0009.

66 Norwegian delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 7 July 1949, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

67 Norwegian delegation to the UN (Stabell) to the Foreign Ministry, 14 December 1949, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

68 Weiss-Wendt, The Soviet Union, 155–58.

69 Norwegian delegation (Stabell) to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 22 June 1950, NRA, S-1275/D/Da/L0094/0009. Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden all ratified the Genocide Convention without reservations.

70 Adolf Bredo Stabell’s speech in the Sixth Committee, 13 December 1951; Norwegian delegation to the UN (Stabell) to the Foreign Ministry, 4 February 1952, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

71 Norwegian Foreign Ministry, draft report on the ICJ ruling on reservations to the Genocide Convention [20 October 1951], NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

72 Cf. Gerhard Simson, whitepaper, “The Term Genocide,” 20 September 1950, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88; Lemkin on Genocide, ed. Steven L. Jacobs (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2012). In his critique, Simson was drawing on Georg Schwarzenberger and his thought-provoking article, “The Problem of an International Criminal Law,” in the 1950 volume of Current Legal Problems (esp. pp. 291–93). Their skepticism about the existence of “virtuous governments” proved well founded.

73 Simson, whitepaper, “The Term Genocide,” 20 September 1950, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88. In his critique, Simson was drawing on Georg Schwarzenberger and his thought-provoking article, “The Problem of an International Criminal Law,” in the 1950 volume of Current Legal Problems (esp. pp. 291–93).

74 Simson, whitepaper, “The Term Genocide,” 20 September 1950, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88.

75 The representative of fifty-seven foreign governments received the analogous letter.

76 Simson, whitepaper, “The Term Genocide,” 20 September 1950, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88.

77 Penal Law Commission, draft law on the punishment of genocide, January 1951, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88.

78 King Gustaf Adolf, proposition no. 71 re. ratification of the Genocide Convention, 22 February 1952, SRA, SE/RA/320798/-/88. On the level of a speculation, the novel conceptualization of the Sami people may read as an affirmation of the Sami ethnic identity by the Swedish state, thus precluding any inference of discrimination, safe genocide.

79 Weiss-Wendt, The Soviet Union, 86.

80 Sweden eventually passed a law on genocide in 1964.

81 Danish Penal Law Commission to the Justice Ministry [post 30 December 1954], NRA, S-1275/D/Da/L0094/0009.

82 Norwegian Foreign Ministry to the Justice and Police Ministry, 24 August 1956; Norwegian Justice and Police Ministry, draft reply to the Foreign Ministry, 4 September 1956, NRA, S-1275/D/Da/L0094/0009.

83 Hartvig Nissen, Øie for øie, tann for tann: Forbrytelse og straff (Oslo: J.W. Cappelen, 1934), 106.

84 Mark Klamberg, “Raphaël Lemkin in Stockholm: Significance for His Work on Axis Rule in Occupied Europe,” Genocide Studies and Prevention 13, no. 1 (2019): 67–74, 81–82; Totally Unofficial, 60–63, 73–78, 80–82.

85 UN Secretary General Trygve Lie to Ingeborg Refling-Hagen, 12 December 1946; Refling-Hagen to the Norwegian Justice and Police Ministry, 9 January 1947; “Svensk opinionsyttring hos FN mot ‘folkmord,’” Dagens Nyheter, 3 December 1946.

86 Klamberg, “Raphaël Lemkin in Stockholm,” 71.

87 Lemkin to Refling-Hagen [post 12 December 1946], NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

88 Cf. doc. nos. 114–64, reproduced in Documents on the Genocide Convention, vol. 1, 217–90.

89 The Norwegian Foreign Ministry (Lunde) to Refling-Hagen, 13 September 1947, NRA, /S-2259/Dye/L10961.

90 Norwegian delegation to the UN to the Foreign Office, 19 April 1951; Lemkin, memorandum, [April 1951], NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001. Lemkin was concerned that, had the ICJ ruled against reservations on principle, it might have further dampened US willingness to ratify the Genocide Convention.

91 Lemkin, memorandum, [April 1951]; Norwegian Foreign Ministry, anonymous handwritten note [April 1951], NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

92 By the early 1950s, British Foreign Office’s officials either dismissed Lemkin or given him noncommittal replies, whereas the last known formal communication between the US State Department and Lemkin is dated by winter 1953. See docs. 266, 359, 360, reproduced in Documents on the Genocide Convention, vol. 2, 148, 273 –74.

93 Lemkin, memorandum on domestic legislation to the Genocide Convnetion [1957]; Norwegian Foreign Ministry (Stabell) to the Justice and Police Ministry, 26 November 1957; Norwegian Justice and Police Ministry, drat reply to the Foreign Ministry, 24 February 1958; Norwegian Justice and Police Ministry to the Foreign Ministry, 26 February 1958, NRA, S-1275/D/Da/L0094/0009.

94 Norwegian delegation to the UN (Dons) to the Foreign Ministry, 2 October 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0176/0001.

95 Norwegian delegation to the UN to the Foreign Ministry, 22 June 1950; ibid, 22 December 1952; Norwegian Foreign Ministry to the Justice and Police Ministry, 26 November 1957, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0177/0001.

96 Cf. Norwegian Foreign Ministry, report, “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide,” 15 December 1948, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

97 Norwegian Foreign Ministry, draft report, “The United Nations: Extermination of Population Groups,” 29 August 1947, NRA, S-3212/D/Df/L0175/0001.

98 Norwegian parliament, proposition no. 56 re. ratification of the Genocide Convention, report by foreign minister Halvard Lange, 31 March 1949, NRA, S-1275/D/Da/L0094/0009.

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Anton Weiss-Wendt

Anton Weiss-Wendt is Research Professor at the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies in Oslo. He holds a PhD in modern Jewish history from Brandeis University. He is the author and/or editor of twelve books, including The Soviet Union and the Gutting of the UN Genocide Convention (2017); A Rhetorical Crime: Genocide in the Geopolitical Discourse of the Cold War (2018); Putin’s Russia and the Falsification of History: Reasserting Control over the Past (2020), and (with Nanci Adler) The Future of the Soviet Past: The Politics of History in Putin’s Russia (2021).