Proposal for an “International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Necrocide”

What happens when the dead are not allowed to rest, and burial sites are destroyed to cover up crimes? After more than two decades of research on genocide, exhumations, and the destruction of human remains to conceal atrocities, I have developed the concept of necrocide—the intentional destruction of the dead and their burial sites. This talk introduces the core ideas behind the proposed “International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Necrocide and on the Protection and Restoration of Post-Necrocidal Sites.” The purpose of my presentation is to outline and discuss the fundamental principles of this Convention, with particular emphasis on: the definition of necrocide, the legal and ethical obligations to protect and preserve burial sites and human remains resulting from mass murders and genocides, the recognition of necrocide as an international crime, and the rights to commemoration and mourning. Additionally, I will highlight the necessity of protecting and restoring areas affected by necrocide for both historical and ecological purposes.

Ewa Domańska is professor of human sciences and holds a permanent position at the Faculty of History, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland. She is a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), a visiting professor in the Department of History and affiliated faculty of CREEES at Stanford. Her teaching and research interests include comparative theory of human and social sciences, theory and history of historiography, as well as genocide and ecocide studies. She is a co-author of the “Environmental History of the Holocaust,” theme issue, eds. Ewa Domańska and Jacek Małczyński, Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 22, no. 2, 2020 and a co-editor of “Knowledge in the Shadow of Catastrophe” (Brill, 2024).