With over 500 members as of 2025,[9] multiple sources describe the IAGS as the world's leading[10][11] and largest organization of scholars studying genocide andcrimes against humanity.[12][13][14][15]
The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) issues formal positions either through its executive board, advisory board, or via resolutions passed by participating members. A resolution on a public issue passes only if over two-thirds of voters approve and more than 20% of members take part in the vote.[16] The usual range of votes received for a resolution falls between 25 and 34%.[17]
Meetings of resolution authors with the full membership are not required by the bylaws but are sometimes held.[17][18] The resolutions passed by the IAGS reflect the association's scholarly assessments on genocide, mass atrocities, and denialism. The IAGS has passed resolutions and issued board statements addressing genocidal crimes and related matters in the following cases:
TheBangladesh genocide during the war of independence in 1971.[27] Out of 626 members, 218 (35%) took part in the voting. Of these 208 approved the resolution, four rejected it and six abstained from voting.[28]
State-led atrocities against theUyghurs in China[29]
Mass violence and displacement targeting theRohingya in Myanmar.[30] In 2022, the executive board condemned the banning of an IAGS member's scholarly work in Myanmar.[31]
Crimes committed byISIS against religious and ethnic minorities, including the Yazidis, Christians, Shia Muslims, and Sunni Kurds[36]
Political violence and repression inZimbabwe under Robert Mugabe[37]
The situation inUkraine following the 2022 Russian invasion has also been addressed by the IAGS executive board.[38]
Israel's policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.[39] Out of its 500 members, 28% took part in the vote and 86% of those who voted supported the resolution.[40]
According to the IAGS, its origin is based on the scholars who studied genocide in the 1980s includingHelen Fein who published "Accounting for Genocide" in 1979[41] andLeo Kuper who published "Genocide" in 1982,[42] and a genocide conference organised byIsrael Charny in Jerusalem in 1982.[43] The IAGS itself was created in 1994,[44]: 9 [45] initially with the nameAssociation of Genocide Scholars and holding biennial conferences in the United States and Canada.[43] In 2001, the name was changed toInternational Association of Genocide Scholars along with a change in the bylaws requiring at least one officer to be from outside of North America, and that the biennial conferences be "regularly" held outside of North America.[43] The original group of scholars was small, with the first conference, held in June 1995 at theCollege of William & Mary inWilliamsburg, Virginia in the US, taking place in a single room with about fifty participants. According toJack Nusan Porter, the Williamsburg conference included Porter reading a paper by his colleagueSteven T. Katz that led to major controversy at the meeting about whether theHolocaust was "the only 'true' genocide".[46]: 257, 258
According toPorter, IAGS finances were managed "carelessly" prior to Porter becoming the treasurer in 2007 andGreg Stanton becoming president of the IAGS, which led to the financial management returning to "a firm footing".[46]: 258 During Stanton's presidency, IAGS leaders visitedErbil to prepare a conference in Brussels on theAnfal campaign, a massacre of Kurds in Iraq underSaddam Hussein that Porter views as a genocide.[46]: 259
A parallel genocide researchers' association, theInternational Network of Genocide Scholars (INoGS), was created in 2005.Jack Nusan Porter describes INoGS as a split from the IAGS, mainly by European researchers, for two reasons: the researchers who created INoGS viewed IAGS as concentrating too much on declarations rather than research; and a public conflict occurred between Israel Charny andMartin Shaw over the assessment ofIsrael's role in theDeir Yassin massacre andits occupation of Palestinian territories.[46]: 259–260 Charny described the creation of INoGS as occurring independently of IAGS, stating, "There was no prior collaboration with IAGS about the development of INOGS."[44]: 16
Another publishing split occurred with the creation of the journalGenocide Studies International, in association with theInternational Institute for Genocide and Human Rights at theZoryan Institute.[46]: 260
Historically, the IAGS was criticizedby some[weasel words] in the field who saw it as overly pro-Western and incorrect that robust military intervention by the West was a successful tactic to prevent genocide, as well as the implicit assumption that Western countries were not the perpetrators of genocide.[citation needed]Jürgen Zimmerer argued that instead of genocide being an aberration, perhaps "the world system is itself the root cause of genocide". A number of scholars, including Zimmerer, foundedINoGS as an alternative to the IAGS.[52]
The IAGS describes its members as including "academic scholars, human rights activists, students, museum and memorial professionals, policymakers, educators, anthropologists, independent scholars, sociologists, artists, political scientists, economists, historians, international law scholars, psychologists, and literature and film scholars."[53] Despite the wide range of professions represented, the IAGS stated in early September 2025 that its membership was still composed primarily of "scholars/academics from a wide range of disciplines".[17]
Jack Nusan Porter stated that the early membership of IAGS, during 1994–2007, was "mostly Jewish and Armenian, with some Israelis, and, of course, mostly male and all white."[46]: 257 By 2023, according to Porter, IAGS had become "fully international and no longer American or European-centred", with "all conferences since 2011 [held] outside the USA."[46]: 261
In January 2012, IAGS stated that it had 339 members, about half from North America.[54] As of 2015[update], IAGS had about 500 members.[13] In October 2023, 150 members were listed publicly on the IAGS website,[55] 280 in April 2024,[56] and 440 on 1 September 2025.[57][58]
^"IAGS Journal".Homepage. International Association of Genocide Scholars. Archived fromthe original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved22 March 2015.
^"Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world's leading experts say".www.bbc.com. 2025-09-01. Retrieved2025-09-05.The world's leading association of genocide scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza... The IAGS is the world's largest professional association of genocide scholars and includes a number of Holocaust experts. Out of its 500 members...
^Cardashian, Vahan; Yeghiayan, Vartkes (2008).Vahan Cardashian: advocate extraordinaire for the Armenian cause. Glendale (Calif.): Center for Armenian Remembrance. pp. XIX.ISBN978-0-9777153-3-6.
^"By-Laws".International Association of Genocide Scholars. 15 April 2019.
^abc"Reactions to IAGS resolution on Gaza".International Association of Genocide Scholars. 2025-09-04.Archived from the original on 2025-09-08. Retrieved2025-09-08.The figure of membership who voted (28%) [on the IAGS Gaza Resolution] is within the usual range of votes received for a resolution, which falls between 25-34%. ... IAGS' membership is predominantly made up of scholars/academics from a wide range of disciplines, and with experts in the fields of genocide prevention, education and punishment, such as policymakers, NGO representatives and legal professionals.
(journal website)