Benjamin WittesIn response to a post in which I said that russia is committing genocide in Ukraine, @ViviannaVanGogh asks me the following question. I would be pleased to oblige her with an explanation.
@ViviannaVanGogh The Genocide Convention, formally known as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, is available here. Signed in 1948, it went into effect in 1951: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf
@ViviannaVanGogh It contains a rather expansive definition of "genocide" in Article II, one that is based on five possible predicate acts combined with a single overarching mens rea requirement:
@ViviannaVanGogh Note that you don't have to commit more than one of the predicate acts to commit genocide. You do, however, have to do the act "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.
@ViviannaVanGogh We will return to the question of intent shortly, but let's start with the following observation: russia has committed ALL FIVE of the named offenses in the genocide convention on a large scale.
@ViviannaVanGogh Let's tick through them individually, just for clarity's sake:
"(a) Killing members of the group;"
No question here. Mariupol, Bucha, etc. Everywhere russian troops have been, there have been atrocities, mass graves, and killings of civilians.
"(a) Killing members of the group;"
No question here. Mariupol, Bucha, etc. Everywhere russian troops have been, there have been atrocities, mass graves, and killings of civilians.
@ViviannaVanGogh "(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;" No question here either. I personally know a great many of mentally traumatized Ukrainians. That russian forces have inflicted physical injury through torture and other barbarities---like shelling apartment buildings---is not meaningfully in doubt either.
@ViviannaVanGogh "(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;"
I have one word for anyone who doubts this: "Mariupol."
@ViviannaVanGogh "(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;" Sexual violence against Ukrainian women has been pervasive since the full-scale invasion began.
russia might argue that its systematic rapes have not been intended to prevent Ukrainian births---and that this particular provision, which I believe refers to forced sterilizations---technically does not apply. Some scholars have argued otherwise, however, and the UN Security Council has actually weighed in.
@ViviannaVanGogh In UN Security Council Resolution 1820, the Security Council "Notes that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war
crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide."
I would not personally want to argue the "systemic rape is not a component act in genocide" defense.
@ViviannaVanGogh Finally, there's "(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."
This has, of course, happened on a large scale. Russia even boasts about it.
This has, of course, happened on a large scale. Russia even boasts about it.
@ViviannaVanGogh So the constitutive acts are all there---with only one possible exception. The remaining question is only whether any or all of them are taken "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national . . . group, as such."
I would submit that to ask this question is also to answer it.
But if anyone needs evidence of intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation, let's start with Putin's speeches, in which he denies Ukraine's existence, claims that it has always been part of russia,
@ViviannaVanGogh and claims the right to annex its territories. Consider also the long-term war on the Ukrainian language. And consider russian theft of and destruction of Ukrainian cultural artifacts.
Moreover, if you listen to russian propaganda, the erasure of the Ukrainian nation is an overt theme. It's not subtle at all.
In short, I think the mens rea requirement is actually quite easily proven.
Wiseoldcrone@benjaminwittes @ViviannaVanGogh and the Russians have stolen Ukrainian children