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."
nadezhda@benjaminwittes AP’s special report returning to Mariupol today checks almost all the genocide boxes in just that 1 city
“Eight months after Mariupol fell into Russian hands, Russia is eradicating all vestiges of Ukraine from it – along with the evidence of war crimes buried in its buildings, such as the famed Drama Theater where demolition started Thursday.” 10k+ new graves
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-erasing-mariupol-499dceae43ed77f2ebfe750ea99b9ad9
Russia scrubs Mariupol's Ukraine identity, builds on death
Throughout Mariupol, Russian workers are tearing down bombed-out buildings at a rate of at least one a day, hauling away shattered bodies with the debris. Russian military convoys are rumbling down the broad avenues of what is swiftly becoming a garrison city, and Russian soldiers, builders, administrators and doctors are replacing the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have died or left.
@benjaminwittes How the AP estimated 10,300 new graves in occupied Mariupol
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-erasing-mariupol-499dceae43ed77f2ebfe750ea99b9ad9
Russia scrubs Mariupol's Ukraine identity, builds on death
Throughout Mariupol, Russian workers are tearing down bombed-out buildings at a rate of at least one a day, hauling away shattered bodies with the debris. Russian military convoys are rumbling down the broad avenues of what is swiftly becoming a garrison city, and Russian soldiers, builders, administrators and doctors are replacing the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have died or left.