Genocide - Sweden and the Fight Over a Concept

International Law Breakfast Briefing with Mark Klamberg, Uppsala University

Genocide is one of the most charged concepts of our time. It is a legal term, but it also carries moral imperatives and can be a political weapon. In the book Genocide: Sweden and the Fight Over a Concept (Folkmord: Sverige och kampen om ett begrepp), international law professor Mark Klamberg describes how the foundation for genocide as a concept — and thus for the UN Genocide Convention — was laid in Stockholm in 1940, where Raphael Lemkin began his work on Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. Sweden played both a constructive and an obstructive role during the negotiations of the Genocide Convention: on one hand, it was on Swedish initiative that ethnic groups were added as a protected category alongside national, religious and racial groups; on the other hand, Sweden worked to exclude cultural genocide from the convention — a position shaped by domestic concerns that its own treatment of the Sami people would come under scrutiny.

The book also highlights remarkable individuals whose stories connect Sweden to the broader history of international justice. When Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was captured in Argentina in 1960, much of the groundwork had been laid by prosecutor Fritz Bauer, who had lived in exile in Sweden during World War II. When the world witnessed the first international conviction for genocide — at the Rwanda Tribunal in 1998 — a Swedish judge, Lennart Aspegren, was on the bench. Four genocide trials have been held at Stockholm District Court, and in the most recent verdict, from 2025, the court explicitly made reference to concept of cultural genocide — precisely the category Sweden had opposed including in the UN Convention nearly 80 years earlier.

Allegations of genocide must be examined with the greatest possible care. It is not only a matter of holding perpetrators accountable, but also of not diluting a concept whose strength rests on precision. At the same time, there is a risk that caution is interpreted as passivity — or as a betrayal of the victims. Today, the concept is once again at the centre of global debate. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised questions about whether forced deportations, the abduction of children and cultural erasure can constitute genocide. Conflicts in Darfur, Gaza and Myanmar have prompted similar allegations, but with varying international responses — depending on actors, alliances and historical relationships. The presentation will explore these present-day conflicts and the ongoing struggle over what genocide means, who defines it, and what follows when the label is applied — or withheld.

About the speaker

Mark Klamberg is professor of international law and vice dean at the Faculty of Law, Stockholm University. He did his post-doc at University of Oxford and was a member of the senior common room of Christ Church, has been a guest lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, Georgetown University and American University Washington College of Law (DC). He often appears in the media to comment on current events and has recently been part of an OSCE mission where he and the other experts of the mission presented a report on how Russia treats Ukrainian Prisoners of War. He is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

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About the series

The International Law Breakfast Briefings offer a regular opportunity for researchers, practitioners, and students with an interest in international law to meet, exchange views, and share research findings on current issues in the field.

Format: Each session features a presentation of approximately 20-25 minutes, followed by a discussion. Unless otherwise specified, both the presentation and discussion will be conducted in English. A Zoom link will be provided upon registration. Coffee and croissants will be available for all registered participants attending in person.

Researchers – including PhD students – and practitioners working in the field of international law who are interested in presenting at one of our upcoming sessions in the spring 2027 series are warmly invited to contact cornelius.wiesener@jur.ku.dk or astrid.kjeldgaard-pedersen@jur.ku.dk.