GENOCIDE

Genocide?- A term that used to cover every headline a couple of months ago after the surfacing of The Kashmir Files! What exactly is it? The UN General Assembly described ‘genocide’ as “a denial of the right of existence of the entire human group, as homicide is the denial of the right to life of individual human being". But! what lead to this definition? What's the story & instances behind it!! Let's have a quick flashback. The literal meaning of the term genocide defines it as an act committed to exterminate fully or partially, a national, ethnic racial, or religious group as such.

The term first introduced in the book ‘Axis Rule in Occupied Europe 1944 was coined by its author a Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin. The word genocide is made by combining ‘Geno’, a ?Greek word for race or tribe, with ‘cide’?a Latin word symbolizing killing. Further adding to your knowledge I would like to point out that the scenario was not always the same earlier there were multiple incidences of such kind but they weren't put under any specific category, due to the lack of a ?particular term & any legal recognition for it.

The repeated instances in the past led to the legal recognition of this heinous crime. History has witnessed multiple situations that could have been described as genocide but remained an anonymous crime. Sometimes mentioned as the very first genocide of the twentieth century, the Ottoman attack against Armenians, the Armenian genocide refers to the physical annihilation of Armenian Christian people living in the Ottoman Empire from the spring of 1915 through the autumn of 1916. The Nanjing Massacre popularly known as the Nanking Massacre or Rape of Nanjing, took place in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Making further to the list the Japanese Imperial troops carried out mass killing and mass rapes of Chinese citizens along with surrendered soldiers. Making a shocking destruction that time, in just two months, an estimated 100,000 ?to over 300,000 Chinese population were killed in that particular massacre. The Unhidden Nazi policies of systematic murder during World War II, including the destruction of European Jews, brought to light the attention of the United Nations urgent need for the codification of laws on genocide as the world vowed: "Never again".

In further course, On December 9, 1948, the UN adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide and successfully ratified or acceded to by 153 States. That was the time when the UN General Assembly described ‘Genocide’ as “a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to life of individual human beings".

Article 6 of the ?International Criminal Court, ICC Statute defines genocide as Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such:

· Firstly, Killing members of the group;

· 2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

· 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical

· destruction in whole or in part;

· 4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

· Fifth, the last but not least, Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

From the above it was seen that the definition of Genocide effectively contains two elements: The first being a mental element: the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”; and the other being the physical element: which includes one of the five acts referred by UN. The United Nations states that “intent is the most difficult element to determine” and that ?“cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group.”

Hence to constitute genocide, it must be proven that the perpetrator/s intended to physically destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Although not contained in the above definition, case law has associated intent with the existence of a State or organizational plan/policy. Other key elements include that the target must be a group, as opposed to its members as individuals, and that the victims are deliberately (remember not randomly) targeted.

Article IV?of the convention provides that the people committing genocide or any other act as in Article III must be punished be it anyone, a constitutionally responsible ruler public officer, or private individual. After coming into force, to date, only three genocides under the convention have been legally recognized & led to trials which are- Rwanda in 1994, Bosnia (and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre), and Cambodia under the 1975-9 Pol Pot regime.

The idea of “never again” was “a prayer, a promise, a vow” for many. Unfortunately, this vow is all too often broken. As many incidences like The widespread killing and displacement of Yazidi by IS, Rohingya in Myanmar, and Kashmiri pandits in India; the targeting of the Uyghurs, an ethnoreligious community in China & many more remained unrecognized, Unnoticed, and unjustified.

Recent years have also seen several situations with exhibit a serious risk of genocide, and situations where some of the elements of the crime are already present, although they have not been yet formally recognized. Among them are the situations of the Tigrayans in Ethiopia, the Hazara in Afghanistan, worldwide famous, Ukrainians as targeted by Russia, and Darfurians in Sudan. And not going far the recent, South Africa’s accusation that Israel is perpetrating genocide against the Palestinians in its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza in which the world is having an eye for the decision of the court.

While talking about the domestic grounds, India too witnessed multiple genocide cases. Remember the record always shows a small number. So legally there are three Instances of Genocide in India. Post 1959 after India ratified the Genocide Convention, three major instances out of the numerous can qualify as Genocide, mentioning, the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots 1989, Bhagalpur Riots,2002 Gujarat Riots,1984 Anti-Sikh Riots but in the absence of proper laws, made particularly for the genocide it remained unrecognized, though there are provisions which make some acts of IPC which may be otherwise taken to be like genocide as culpable offenses

On 2nd March 2016, a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra Shri Avinash Pandey raised a matter to the Minister of Home Affairs asking the plan of the government to enact Laws in conformity with the UN Convention on Genocide & ?favoritism. But the answer surprised many. it was said that “The principles embodied within the Convention are a part of the general laws of the nation so already being a part of the common law of India".

Now the question that arises here is, was this couplet enough to satisfy the 140 Crore population? If it was already part of the common law of the nation implying no extra steps were to be taken specifically for genocide, then Why did India ratify the Genocide Convention?

Not giving special focus to genocide among crimes is similar to calling a Lion a normal cat. The demand of the time has changed & requires special attention from the authorities towards this concerning issue. Requesting the position holders to look into the matter and take effective steps I would like to conclude my article.

By - Pardeep Verma