It was a failure to denounce a crime against humanity.

[GoodTaste]

2019 Scientific American runs an essay titled:
Legal Child Abuse Must End
Female genital mutilation continues in the U.S.
By Qanta A. Ahmed
It was a failure to denounce a crime against humanity. In July, Ani Zonneveld, president of Muslims for Progressive Values, asked Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota to make a statement concerning women and girls victimized by female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C). Instead of educating the audience and pledging to improve legal protections against it, Omar, a Somali-American Muslim woman, pointed out that she had spoken against the practice elsewhere and excoriated Zonneveld for making the request simply because of Omar’s religion—ignoring the fact that Zonneveld is her- self a follower of Islam.

Source: Scientific American

The phrase "It was a failure to denounce a crime against humanity" appears to have two opposite meanings to me:
(1) It means "the action of publicly declaring a crime against humanity to be wrong or evil was a failure"(so more efforts should be made). I added "the action", not knowing whether it is correct.
(2) It means "to denounce a crime against humanity was wrong (you should not denounce the crime". Logically, this one is not the case. But I don't know the grammar of the phrase.

Which one is correct?

 

[5jj]

Ilhan Omar's refusal to speak against FGM was a failure to denounce a crime against humanity.
She failed to denounce a crime against humanity.

She did not denounce a crime against humanity.


failure: a situation in which you do not do something that someone expects you to do

failure to do something: Failure to comply with the rules can result in expulsion.

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/failure

 

[GoodTaste]

Your explanation itself is clear, but the original text in the OP is still not clear to me. Because there is "Omar... pointed out that she had spoken against the practice elsewhere" - that is, "Omar spoke against FGM"! - It is the opposite of "Omar's refusal to speak against FGM" as you explained.
That is way I was so confused even after I read the passage 3 times.

 

[5jj]

Omar refused to speak against it on this occasion. Instead, she chose to criticise Ani Zonneveld for asking her to denounce FGM.

 

[GoodTaste]

Omar refused to speak against it on this occasion. Instead, she chose to criticise Ani Zonneveld for asking her to denounce FGM.

Yes. This should have been what the author intended to express.
But the grammar of the phrase "It was a failure to denounce a crime against humanity" is still puzzling. A crime against humanity should be denounced and refusing to do so is a failure. Now the phrase means "To denounce a crime against humanity was a failure" - It is the opposite of what the author intended to express. Shouldn't it be "It was a failure to refuse to denounce a crime against humanity"? Perhaps I've got somewhere wrongly. I am not sure.

 

[5jj]

the phrase means "To denounce a crime against humanity was a failure"

It does not.

 

[GoodTaste]

Now I read "It was a failure to denounce a crime against humanity" again and found it to be more like "It was a case that failed to denounce a crime against humanity". If you rewrite it in another way that is more accurate than mine, what will it be?

 

[5jj]

Why do you feel a need to rewrite this sentence in a different way? The original words are clear and concise.

 

[Tarheel]

Omar refused to denounce the practice (a crime against humanity).