This is how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the atrocities committed in Bucha and other areas near Kyiv, where mass graves and apparent executions of civilians were discovered following the withdrawal of Russian troops from the area. Images of corpses in the streets and corpses stuffed in plastic bags in Bucha have shocked people, prompting calls for credible investigations and accountability. But the explosive charge of “genocide” against Russia has proved controversial. Legal experts say it is too early to say whether genocide has taken place in Ukraine, stressing that while the term is politically damaging, other human rights violations are also serious and should not be ignored. “In public debate, there is a tendency to treat genocide as the worst of all crimes,” said Ernesto Verdegia, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “It has a kind of political and moral impact that other types of very serious offenses may not have – such as crimes against humanity or war crimes. “This is problematic and unfortunate because, in fact, under international law, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are all extremely serious.”
What does “genocide” mean?
The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is defined as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”, including killings and birth control measures. “The easiest way to think about it is that genocide is group-directed violence. It’s not just about killing a lot of people. “This is an intention to destroy this group of people,” Verdeja told Al Jazeera. Zelensky is not the only world leader to accuse Russia of genocide. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the atrocities in Bucha were “not far from genocide”, while his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki said: “Russia’s crimes against about 300 people in Bucha and other cities outside Kiev should be called acts of genocide and treated as such. “ “We will do everything we can to ensure that those who committed these war crimes do not go unpunished and therefore appear in court… to deal with these alleged cases. [crimes against] “humanity, war crimes and, why not, genocide,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also said this week. But U.S. officials were more cautious in their use of the word. Asked if the killings in Bucha were tantamount to genocide, US President Joe Biden told reporters on Monday: “No, I think it’s a war crime.” His top aide, Jake Sullivan, later said the government was monitoring the situation but had not seen a “level of systematic deprivation of the Ukrainian people reach the level of genocide.” Experts in international law have said that because “genocide” is a well-defined legal term, evidence must first be gathered and examined to determine if it occurred. “I think it’s worth exploring. “It would certainly be a serious mistake to ignore the fact that many of the victims so far have been clearly civilians, possibly targeted because they are Ukrainians – this is a national origin, a condition that fits part of the definition of genocide,” said Juan Mendez. former UN Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention. “But the fact that civilians are dying is not necessarily genocide,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Planning acts of genocide”
Mendez, currently a professor of human rights law at the American University of Washington, has backed the Biden administration’s commitment to helping investigate the atrocities without making an early decision. “It is very important not to assume genocide because then it becomes a political game: ‘You are the genocide and we are the good guys,’” he said. Mendez also noted that prior to the Russian invasion, President Vladimir Putin had made baseless allegations that the Ukrainian government had committed genocide against the Russian-speaking population of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country. “Unfortunately, sometimes we use the word ‘genocide’ too quickly,” Mendez said. “For example, Putin himself has used the word ‘genocide’ against Ukrainians when there is no literal evidence. The [was] just a political ploy to call it that, just to delegitimize the enemy. “ In a February 26 appeal to the International Court of Justice – a UN body that resolves disputes between states – Kyiv rejected Moscow’s accusations, saying Russia was planning a genocide in Ukraine. “Russia has overturned the Genocide Convention – making a false claim of genocide as a basis for its actions, which constitute serious human rights violations against millions of people across Ukraine,” the statement said. “Russia’s lie is even more offensive and ironic, because it seems that Russia is planning genocidal acts in Ukraine.” Police are working on the identification process following the killing of civilians in Bucha [Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo]
Other examples
But while the United States has so far avoided using the label “genocide” to describe the situation in Ukraine, it has applied it in other contexts. Last month, the Foreign Ministry formally determined that the Myanmar army had committed genocide against the Rohingya minority in a campaign that began in 2017 and included “village demolition, killings, rapes, torture and other horrific abuses.” Earlier, in the final days of the Trump administration in early 2021, the United States accused China of committing genocide against Muslim Uighurs in the country’s western Xinjiang region. As for Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said last month that it had found that some members of the Russian military had committed “war crimes” during the conflict, while senior administration officials – including Biden – accused Putin of “crime.” ». Sullivan told reporters Monday that Washington continues to monitor the situation closely and supports efforts to investigate possible violations. “It’s not just that we sit down and discuss terms and then, finally, we decide to apply a term based on static conditions,” he said. “We are watching the situation unfold. We collect data. We continue to develop data. “ Russia, for its part, has denied that it targeted civilians in Ukraine, saying some of the plots to provoke international outrage from Bukha were false. The Kremlin also said the allegations of executions in Bucha were a “forgery” aimed at discrediting the country’s military. However, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said reports of Russian atrocities were “more than credible”. “What we have seen in Bucha is not the accidental act of a rogue unit. “It’s a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities,” Blinken said on Tuesday.
“Investigation, persecution, punishment”
Meanwhile, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine. The UN Human Rights Council last month also announced a commission of inquiry into the abuses. War crimes are violations of international law occurring in times of conflict, including targeting civilians and ill-treatment of prisoners, while crimes against humanity – characterized as widespread or planned violations of human rights periods of relative peace. “You tend to see war crimes and crimes against humanity happening at the same time – some practical overlaps there,” Verdeja said. He added that it is important to classify such abuses. “From a legal point of view, it matters because it is important to understand the nature of the violation and the crime that is happening,” he told Al Jazeera. For his part, Mendez, the professor, said the debate over whether atrocities constituted genocide should not divert attention from the wider pressure for international justice. He said war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide – which fall under the ICC’s mandate – are all serious. “These are different but very serious violations of international law,” Mendez told Al Jazeera. “All three are urging the international community to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators.”
