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The destruction of a group by a process of forced conversion or assimilation, wherein the identity of a protected group, be it national, ethnic, racial, or religious, is eradicated and replaced with another identity is not covered by the prevailing definition of the mens rea of the crime of genocide, which requires that a perpetrator intend the physical or biological destruction of a protected group. This article argues that genocide has been inaccurately applied by international courts, based on an incorrect interpretation of the Genocide Convention that has dominated international law for twenty years, and discusses what non-physical/biological destruction of a group looks like in practice. The article proposes that events in Ukraine give the International Criminal Court, which has yet to definitively interpret the crime of genocide, an opportunity to correct this legal error and thereby ensure that genocide offers better protection to groups from destruction. [End Page 25] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different labels have been used to characterize violence against civilians in South Sudan since the beginning of the third civil war (2013- present). The United Nations categorized the violence as "on the edge of," or as "potential" genocide. This article contends that mass rape by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and affiliated militias against civilians is genocidal, based on over 325 interviews collected in South Sudan and Uganda's refugee camps in 2015–2017, including with rape survivors and witnesses. The article investigates the organization and commission of systematic gang-rapes in two of the most conflict-stricken areas of South Sudan. It argues that genocidal rape is two-pronged. In addition to destroying the target groups, genocidal rape also secures gains for the perpetrators. Much of the literature on rape as a weapon of war has thus focused on what it does (or what it is meant to do) to the victim group and what it accomplishes militarily. This article also explains what genocidal rape does for the perpetrators, and how it impacts society's social stratification. Genocidal rape not only obliterates victim groups: in destroying and transferring wealth to the perpetrators, it is part of a capitalist logic that consolidates ethnic groupness and domination. [End Page 667] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing normative indicators to measure governments' consent to, promotion of, and compliance with international laws prohibiting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other norms constituting the International Criminal Court (ICC) demonstrates that it is possible to calibrate variation in state conduct over time and to compare one state to another. The indicators make compliance more visible and amenable, both to encouragement by nongovernmental organizations and states, and to enforcement by the ICC. They show that legalization of these norms is currently progressing. Tracing the stances of selected states demonstrates the empirical and theoretical utility of the indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is probably the first work to explore systematically the commemoration of rescuers from a human rights and transitional justice perspective. It argues that the documentation and commemoration of acts of rescuers during mass atrocities should become an integral part of the human rights response to such atrocities. These undertakings could make important contributions to the goals of post-conflict reconstruction, especially in relation to conflict-transformation between communities, and to confronting the role of passive bystanders. The article first develops the concept of "rescues for humanity" to elucidate the significance of rescues in the transitional justice framework and ,after reviewing existing initiatives, it moves on to identify the potential benefits of such undertakings, as well as the challenges and risks involved in the documentation of rescues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon revisiting 11 July 1995 in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), this piece reflects on a group of the Srebrenica genocide survivors as they continue through, as well as, struggle with their healing processes as internally displaced persons in a small village near Sarajevo. Largely left on their own since 1995, these families' existence has significantly depended on the humane and humanitarian assistance from a small, nonreligious, and US-based charity for food, shelter, and educational pursuits. The charity's commitment to BiH has led to a series of remarkable outcomes, but has also exposed numerous issues that merit additional attention from both the Bosnian government as well as the international community regarding the group in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assertion of prescriptive and adjudicative universal jurisdictions by some countries in relation to a handful of offenses that are classified as international or universal crimes (e.g. genocide) has led to a great deal of controversy. Those who favor universal jurisdiction argue that certain acts (often crimes) affect all of us, not just the specific individual or group of victims or the country of which the victims are nationals. It is therefore legitimate, they argue, for any state to punish or suppress such acts regard-less of any traditional jurisdictional connection between the alleged acts and the state asserting jurisdiction. The availability of universal jurisdiction is premised on the presumed effect of certain crimes on humanity as a whole. Those who commit these offenses are referred to as hostis humani generis—enemies of human kind. Skeptics argue that the idea of universal jurisdiction is conceptually incoherent, inconsistent with the principle of political self-determination, and has great potential to be an instrument of political mischief. While they disagree on the conceptual coherence and utility of the notion of universal jurisdiction, both proponents and opponents view its function in purely instrumental terms, to provide the condition for punishing or suppressing certain offenses that affect all of us. This article argues that universal jurisdiction also serves another, less articulated purpose. It has a constitutive function as well. It is partly a process through which the identity of the international community is imagined and enacted. It is an expression of a sense of ourselves (a community of humankind) at given moments of time. This article argues that neglect of this constitutive dimension leads to an incomplete analysis of universal jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that particular assumptions about biology, ethnicity, genetics, and gender create a permissive environment for policies of sexual violence during war. It further asserts that the children born as a consequence of these policies become a prism for identity politics. The arguments regarding identity and war and the consequences on policies of sexual violence during wartime are illustrated through analyses of the Serbian militia's rape campaigns in Bosnia in the early 1990s and the mass rape and killing of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the work of the office of the Special Adviser of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General on the prevention of genocide. The report, which was prepared on the basis of the request made by the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General, is intended to review the work of the Office of the Special Adviser in implementing the mandate established by the Secretary-General. It is also aimed to gather and assess the views and expectations of the mandate within the UN system, and to provide recommendations and options for further action with a view to improve the effectiveness of the Office.

Tension exists between the ways in which testimonies voice their truth, and the expectations readers or listeners have regarding what truth means and how it should be voiced. Society favors systematizing testimony as a collection of facts whereas testimony after genocide does not abide by the rules established by the scientific/academic/legal apparatus. Rather, it voices the intimate, subjective, deep dimension of horror. Having witnessed the abyss of atrocity, survivors can no longer rely on knowledge or facts as the basis for thinking, It is mostly in the realm of literature where recounting becomes an elaboration of language so that it can invoke the true nature of the "event." Based on authors such as Giorgio Agamben, Hannah Arendt, Ariel Dorfman, Shoshana Felman, Dominique LaCapra, Don Laub, and Walter Benjamin, this article underscores the role of testimony as a means for working through traumatic memories and for social and cultural resistance—a must for the ethical recovery of a community after the experience of utmost exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The profound effects of war and conflict on the health of survivors are a significant public health concern. lntra-ethnic conflicts have swept the world since the fall of the Berlin wall. States torn apathy ethnic cleansing or genocide have been forced to confront the suffering and disability caused by violence where perpetrators may be neighbors, colleagues or friends. Promoting health in its broadest sense is therefore an important challenge for the rebuilding of these countries. This paper argues that healthy psychological and physical functioning requires overcoming the hatred that pervades the relationships between ethnic groups and that, in turn, this depends upon seeing their recent enemies in human terms. Empathy serves as a normative ideal for a rehumanized view of the other. Importantly, this ideal of empathy is not achieved in an intense moment of sympathy, but in living together and genuinely attending to another's perspective over time. Such an understanding seems tolerable on the basis of genuine social cooperation.

The article focuses on the failure of genocidal rape discourse to address forced impregnation and the legal status of rape victims and their children in Yugoslavia. The ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia put war crimes against women on the international human rights agenda for the first time in history. In response to reports of tens of thousands of women being raped, mutilated, and executed in concentration camps as part of a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing, the international community took action against genocide for the first time since Nuremberg. The degree to which the notion of genocide becomes a reality further depends on the institutional fate of orphans and their subsequent identity formation after they have been claimed by the state. Perhaps no category exists to capture the plight of war- rape orphans, and thus children's rights theorists will have to produce an alternative framework of rights capable of doing so. Prevailing international law was not constructed to deal with the rights or needs of children. Nor was it constructed to grapple with the intricate political struggles through which group identity is forged and contested using manipulation of reproductive politics-a term that has also been used only in regards to women and gender, but under which, by definition, the birth and care of children into and by communities is also involved.

This article advocates the establishment of a commission in Rwanda as a means of beginning reconciliation and rebuilding a unified country. Although Rwanda presents many daunting challenges for a truth and reconciliation commission, or any other process that would promote unification and tolerance, it is appropriate for a number of reasons. Firstly, the ongoing animosity and retributive violence between the current and former governments and their respective followers is evidence that the status quo is not working. If a new method for addressing the problems is not implemented, the violence will continue. Secondly, the Rwandan Government is not equipped to channel all responsible parties through the traditional legal system. Thus far, attempts to do so have led to increased human rights violations, anger, and distrust of the system among both victims and accused. According to the author, if the Rwandan Government wishes to adequately address the massive human rights violations of the genocide, it must go beyond mere criminal trials. Despite the existence of the UN Security Council's war crimes tribunal, the immense task of trying all the accused who are within the Rwandan system is currently too great for the system to bear.

The main purpose of this article is to contribute to an improved understanding of human rights field operations, as it is a relatively new tool for facilitating compliance with human rights law. Secondly, the article will highlight the significant challenges faced by the new High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) to effectively integrate human rights into the UN system and to harmonize the actions of states to achieve eventual respect for the full spectrum of human rights. This article deals with the UN Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda (HRFOR) as part of the UN system. The article discusses what the UN did before the Rwandan genocide and how it responded to it. The HRFOR was created in mid-1994 as part of this international response, with the aim of assisting both the international community and Rwanda in responding to the genocide and mass killings that had marred that nation. According to the author of this article, the new HCHR should view the HRFOR as a failure and begin to investigate why the HRFOR was unable to facilitate compliance with the full spectrum of human rights in Rwanda.

This article presents a psychohistorical analysis of the Japanese American internment during World War II. It is certainly true that the Japanese are not the sole objects of racial discrimination by European Americans. Other minority groups have suffered the consequences as well. Furthermore, the idea of internment of racial groups is not a new one. In response to a few reports of bubonic plague in Chinatown in San Francisco at the turn of the century, thousands of Chinese Americans were placed in quarantine for several months. They were then induced, along with many Japanese Americans, to receive inoculations of a hazardous experimental vaccine. Yet, it is possible that the Japanese arouse greater racial hatred than other minority groups. After all, the United States has dropped atomic bombs only on Japan. Furthermore, economic competition with Japan in the I980s elicited some extraordinarily hostile responses. Another insight gained from the study of the Japanese American internment is that villainy is not only to be found abroad. It might be argued that the United States obsessive concern with assimilation almost resulted in the cultural genocide of Americans of Japanese ancestry.

The article discusses the plays of James W. Nichol, Arthur Kopit, Christopher Hampton and Thomas Keneally, which portray the genocidal activity in different countries. The "Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons" depicts the killings of Huron Indians by the French missionaries and Iroquois in Canada, while the "Indians" defines the corruption of innocent Americans. The "Savages" was first presented in 1973 which accounts the destruction of Brazilian Indians by the non-Indian settlers in Amazon rain forest. The "Bullie's House" shows the genocide of indigenous people in Australia.

The article presents the international convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide in Cambodia. It offers information on the acts of genocides against the racial, religious and Khmer groups as well as the fall of the democratic government. It is observed that the mass killings occurred against the Armenius, Hutus, Ibos and indigenous people, however, appropriate actions to condemn the Khmer Rouge have not yet implemented. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) establishes the International Court of Justice to weaken the opposition forces.

In 2018, the International Criminal Court ruled that it has jurisdiction over the Myanmar government's deportation of the Rohingya to Bangladesh. The basis for its jurisdiction was that Bangladesh is an ICC state party, although Myanmar is not. This decision has raised questions on the applicability of the decision to other crimes, including genocide. Moreover, its potential applicability to other situations that have taken place in a non-state party became the subject of much debate. The author concludes that the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction over Myanmar's alleged genocide but not over all international crimes that generate refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 is a modest reminder of the catastrophic toll of viral pathogens and their potential weaponization against human groups. In both the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust, deliberate exposure to infectious disease was a significant means of extermination. The drafters of the 1948 Genocide Convention were mindful that living conditions in the ghettos and concentration camps claimed more lives than mass-executions. Although "slow death" was included under Article II(c) however, there has been almost no jurisprudence or scholarship on its application to infectious disease. Contemporary examples from East Timor, Sudan, and Myanmar demonstrate its direct and continuing relevance to the crime of genocide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's recollections about the Death March out of Auschwitz, Poland in January 1945. The authors revives the past-- with stark details of the Death March, of the killing and beatings along the way, of the Ghetto of Kiekce, and of Auschwitz--are the faces of the children in Bosnia or Chechnya with that terrible horror in their eyes, the pictures of starving children in Africa, the skeletal remains of the El Mozote massacre found in El Salvandor, and the neatly stacked skull that testify to the Cambodian genocide. A few years ago he visited the Jewish cemetery in Gottingen, Germany. His mother was born in Gottingen and his great grandfather and other ancestors are also buried in that cemetery. The grounds were very neat and beautifully kept, and, as he looked around, he realized that this was a dead cemetery. Only a few people had been buried there since the end of World War II because the once thriving Jewish community, dating back to the thirteenth century, was no more.