Irish Aires

Did the Irish Famine Constitute Genocide With Dr Francis Boyle ...
United Ireland, Human Rights and International Law Dr Francis A. Boyle Professor of International Law, University of Illinois During the past three decades, ...
www.firstpost.com/.../northern-ireland-did-the-irish-famine-co...

December 2011 Irish American News “We’ve Always Been Green!” 23

I visited iBAM! November 12 and had

the great fortune to meet an old friend, world

renowned legal expert, Francis Boyle, Professor

of International Law at the University of

Illinois, and to talk with him about his new

book United Ireland, Human Rights and

International Law.

Francis, tell us a bit about your new book:

“Mike, as you know, the two leading issues

going on now are a United Ireland and the

Potato Famine. And I decided to bring this

book out now to address both those issues.

I have a chapter in here in which I design a

united Ireland; what it should look like and

how to do it. As you know, Sinn Fein has said

the British government and the Irish government

should produce a white paper on united

Ireland. With all due respect, I don’t think the

two governments are going to do it. I think

they are the problem and not the solution. So

I decided to take the bull by the horns myself

and do a preliminary vision of what a united

Ireland would look like. As for the Potato

Famine, the second big issue, I’ve attempted

to develop for the first time ever the legal case

for why the Potato Famine was, in fact and in

law, British genocide against the Irish.

The historians who addressed this matter

before were of course excellent: Woodham-

Smith and Christine Kinealy, but they did not

express a legal opinion, because their training

obviously is not in the law. Well, I’m a professor

of international law and have actually

argued genocide at the International Court

of Justice in the Hague where I won two

World Court orders for Bosnia on the basis

of the Genocide Convention. And indeed

then, acting pursuant to my advice, President

Izetbegovićof Bosnia instructed me to

sue Britain for aiding and abetting genocide

against Bosnia. So as of now I’m the only

lawyer in the world with actual experience

of trying to sue Britain for genocide. So I

thought the time had come, after me doing all

this work for the Bosnians, for me to set forth

the case as to why Britain fully intended to

commit genocide against the Irish. And I have

40 pages in here developing that argument.”

(Note: Prof. Boyle sued Britain on behalf of

Bosnia after they embargoed arms shipments

intended to provide the Bosnians protection

against ongoing genocide. But then Bosnian

foreign minister, Ljubijankic, was told that if his

government was to continue with the lawsuit, the

humanitarian assistance to the Bosnian people

would be cut. Britain also threatened to withdraw

its Coldstream Guards.)

You developed the case for Bosnia. How is that

similar to British actions in “The Famine”?

“I took that same expertise developed

there and applied it to the British genocide

against the Irish over the Potato Famine. The

facts are not in dispute: that they starved to

death one million Irish

and forced another two

million to leave Ireland.

The critical point here is

the intent by Britain to

exterminate Irish. Now

historically they have

always argued, and even

today they have argued that they did not have

the intent to eliminate Irish; that in fact this

was simply a case of laissez-faire economics

gone awry. And what I do here is go back

through the historical archives and pull out

all the statements where the highest level officials

of the British government at that time,

from Russell, the Prime Minister, on down,

and I list them all here by name and office

and statements—prove, state specifically,

that they intended to reduce and eliminate

the number of Irish living in Ireland, either

because they were Irish or because they were

Catholic, or both.”

Was it very hard finding these records?

“No, I basically started with the books by

Woodham-Smith and Christine Kinealy. They

had already done the archival research. I also

had two research assistants of my own at the

College of Law who went out and did additional

work. So, all the sources that I cite here

as to the British intent to commit genocide

against the Irish are documented from the

British archives or the British press, media,

at the time. And it’s very important Mike to

keep in mind the distinction between motive

and intent, which is well recognized under

common law that applies both in Britain at

the time and here in the United States. They

might have said that the motive was laissezfaire

economics, but the intent clearly was

to reduce and eliminate the number of Irish

living in Ireland at that time; because basically

the British deemed us to be an inferior race of

people, pretty much like the idea, philosophy

the Nazis had toward the Jewish people…

However you want to define it legally, it was

definitely genocide as defined by international

law… outright genocide. And we, the Irish in

Ireland and in America and throughout the

Diaspora must understand that, and hold the

British government to account for it.”

Professor Boyle also outlines his fascinating

vision for a united Ireland in his new book.

“I thought someone had to take the first

draft… Read it for yourself. It’s a work in

progress, and certainly I’d appreciate any

feedback, comments, criticisms. We can move

forward with a second draft, something with more detail, when I hear from others.”

So, be a part of that effort, Order a copy of Professor Boyle’s  book, United Ireland, Human Rights,

And International Law. Give it a good read, and get back to him with your thoughts on his vision for

A united Ireland.

See the expanded version of this article at IrishAmericanNews.com (Columns, Mick)

E-mail: IrishTV@att.net

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© Mike Morley 2011