UN Convention on Genocide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

UN Convention on Genocide - Essay Example The contribution of Raphael Lemkin is hailed as he was the leading force behind this convention and through extensive lobbying in which he made the word "genocide" an official word. The word genocide was rooted from the words "genos" which means family, tribe, or race, while "cide" stood for killing. Lemkin was of Jewish descent, and was greatly affected by the Jewish Holocaust. It is important to note that the Armenian genocide was the first annihilation that truly ignited his passion to raise awareness on genocide. Article 2 in the Resolution 260 (III) of document defines the acts of genocide as, killing any groups of people due to their nationality, ethnicity, race or religious group. Before the document there was no way to legally define what was considered genocide, and there was also no way to punish any person or groups of people for committing it, especially during wartime (Wilt 238). The document is important because it protects the citizens of every country involved with the convention from genocide. For example, Article 3 punishes any person who commits genocide, "whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals". Another important point is Hitlers infamous genocide which contributed in shedding more lights on the acts of genocide that is why there was plenty of support from the United Nations for The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of

Intellectual Property of Islamic civilization in Andalusia Essay

Intellectual Property of Islamic civilization in Andalusia - Essay Example Cordoba attracted Intellectual giants like Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), Al-Khwarizmi (Algorizm) and Al-Razi (Razes) to name a few, were all Muslims educated in Al-Andalus. In the 700 years that they have been in Europe, the Muslims of Al-Andalus produced a great civilisation that was far ahead and more advance than the rest of Europe at that time. Many tribes, religions and races coexisted in al-Andalus, each contributing to the intellectual prosperity of Andalusia. Literacy in Islamic Iberia was far more widespread than any other country of the West. Today also, unlike other muslim inhabitants of elsewhere , the southern Spain which was known as Muslim Spain is far ahead and distinct in education and thinking. The properity and peace of Andalusi is marked by intellectual advancement specially in field of education and translation works.In the 10th century, the city of Cordoba had 700 mosques, 60,000 palaces, and 70 libraries, the largest of which had up to 600,000 books. In comparison, the largest library in Christian Europe at the time had no more than 400 manuscripts, while the University of Paris library still had only 2,000 books later in the 14th century. In addition, as many as 60,000 treatises, poems, polemics and compilations were published each year in Al-Andalus. In comparison, modern Spain published 46,330 books per year as of 1996. The historian Said Al-Andalusi wrote that Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III had collected libraries of books and granted patronage to scholars of medicine and "ancient sciences". Later, al-Mustansir (Al-Hakam II) went yet further, building a university and libraries in Cà ³rdoba. Cà ³rdoba became one of the worlds leading centres of medicine and philosophi cal debate. â€Å"The subjects covered by the texts included medicine, astrology, astronomy pharmacology, psychology, physiology, zoology, biology, botany, mineralogy, optics, chemistry, physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry,