Genocidal Intent Research Articles

Damage to the environment as a sign of genocide

The actualisation of the problems of causing damage to the environment necessitates the determination of the grounds for international criminal liability for this act in the context of various international crimes, including genocide. The purpose of this study was to highlight the damage to the environment as a sign of the crime of genocide. The study was based on general scientific theoretical methods of scientific cognition, namely systemic, functional, and dogmatic methods, as well as methods of analysis, synthesis, and generalisation. Based on the consideration of the acts covered by the concept of genocide, the study found that damage to the environment in this context can be regarded as intentional creation of such conditions of existence for a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group which, by their qualitative characteristics, are aimed at the complete or partial physical destruction of this group, and the signs of such conditions are considered in the practice of the International Criminal Court, the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The study examined the tendency to perceive environmental damage as a sign of genocide in the context of genocide of indigenous peoples, and on this basis formulated the conclusion that it is not impossible to assess environmental damage as genocide outside the context of indigenous peoples’ living conditions, since the Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide define the characteristics of a social group that may be a victim differently – national, ethnic, racial, or religious groups. The study found that damage to the environment may simultaneously constitute a sign of both ecocide and genocide if the ecocide is aimed at the destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The study identified the signs under which damage to the environment can be qualified as a crime of genocide: 1) deliberate creation of such living conditions for a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group aimed at its physical elimination as a social group; 2) such conditions are created in the context of deliberate physical destruction of a social group (contextual element); 3) genocidal intent, i.e., intent to destroy in whole or in part a social group defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The practical significance of this study lies in the possibility of using its findings in the context of international justice, provided that the relevant acts are qualified as genocide, one of the ways of committing which is to cause damage to the environment

Proof of Specific Intent in the Crime of Genocide

Abstract The current dispute between South Africa and Israel before the International Court of Justice has many aspects of great legal interest. This article focuses on the identification and proof of the specific intent of a state in the crime of genocide. On this point, the arguments put forward by the two states in the preliminary phase of the proceedings are very different and raise several issues. The article addresses them especially in light of the International Court of Justice’s previous case law on genocide. The following questions are addressed: Is the genocidal intent of individuals and that of states distinct and separate? Does the finding of individual criminal responsibility for genocide affect, and if so to what extent, state responsibility? What elements/factors are relevant for proving a specific intent? What organs express such an intent? What are the standards of evidence required? The International Court of Justice gave so far unclear answers to these questions. This article seeks to offer some solutions in this regard.

ADOPTING A STRICT LIABILITY APPROACH TOWARD GENOCIDE

The Genocide Convention lists intent as a critical element that must be proven to secure convictions for genocide. Many defendants have been acquitted or convicted of lesser crimes due to the difficulty in proving genocidal intent. The argument presented in this paper is that the large-scale negative impact of genocide on humanity should be considered when defining its scope in penal legislation. A fortiori, the crime of genocide should be given similar consideration to other crimes that have been classified as strict liability crimes due to their severity and cost to society. Intent as an element should, therefore, be deduced from the general purpose of the perpetrator’s acts. Although the strict legality principle is not perfect and has some flaws, it is still the most just, effective, coherent, persuasive, and proper reading of the genocide convention. The goal here is to contribute to the conversation on the limitations of genocidal intent to the effectiveness of the enforcement of the crime of genocide in international criminal law.

Judaization in Palestine: Is It Genocide According to the 1998 Rome Statute?

The purpose of this study is to analyse the act of genocide in the attempt at Judaization in Palestine based on the 1998 Rome Statute and examine the possibility of categorizing the Judaization of Palestine as cultural genocide because Judaization has changed various aspects of Palestinian life and the Palestinian territories themselves. In addition, cultural genocide has been eliminated from its history, but there are still actions that are assumed to lead to it. This research is a type of normative legal research using a conceptual, statutory, case, and historical approach. The results of this study indicate that the Judaization of land and people in Palestine is a crime of genocide, as stated in Article 6 (c) of the 1998 Rome Statute. At the same time, the Judaization of identity and holy places can be categorized as cultural genocide, according to experts. However, the opinions of experts contained in legal works are subsidiary legal sources and, until now, have not been recognized as customary international law. In addition, the Judaization of identity and holy places within the framework of international law can only be viewed as genocidal intent, not cultural genocide.

Grouphood Promotion v. Grouphood Destruction: China’s Regional Ethnic Autonomy as Antithesis to Genocidal Intent

Abstract China’s ethnic policy is characterized by a strong promotion of ethnic equality and unity and regional ethnic autonomy under the unified multi-ethnic State framework. With regional ethnic autonomy at its core, this is a policy of precision autonomy and grouphood promotion. On the other hand, genocide is a crime of grouphood destruction, committed with the specific intent (dolus specialis) to “destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”. An examination of the main tenets of China’s ethnic policy and the specific intent element of the crime of genocide makes it crystal clear that, instead of aiming to “destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”, China’s ethnic policy aims to do the opposite, i.e., to promote the perception of the grouphood, the wellbeing and flourishing of every ethnic group. China’s policy of ethnic equality and unity and regional ethnic autonomy under the unified multiethnic State framework is thus the antithesis to genocidal intent of grouphood destruction. The increase of the Uygur population from 2.2 million to 12 million and of the life expectancy of the group from 30 to 74.7 years in Xinjiang over the past 60 years and the idolization of Uygur actors and actresses across China and beyond put on conspicuous display the successful reality of this policy.

ZLOČIN GENOCIDA U PRAVU O ODGOVORNOSTI / THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN LAW OF RESPONSIBILITY

The paper deals with the issue of the responsibility of the main subjects of international law for grave breaches of obligations arising from the imperative norms of general international law in relation to the commission of the crime of genocide. The focus of this paper is in certain aspects of the relationship between individual criminal responsibility and the international responsibility of States and international organizations, which should be interpreted as two separate systems of responsibility in international law. Each system has its own special fundaments, features and characteristics. Consequently, the starting point is that the responsibility of States for genocide does not depend on the responsibility of individuals for the crime, although the International Court of Justice has made extensive use of the conclusions of the chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. (Judgment from 2007). The paper therefore analyzes the question of the existence of a theoretical legal possibility for the so-called indirectly proving the responsibility of States (and international organizations) for genocide through a prior examination of the criminal responsibility of leaders, but also through proving a joint criminal enterprise for the purposes of committing the crime, or do these conceptions represent a starting point for the responsibility of the main subjects of international law or they are simply "proof" of the attribution of the act to a State? In this paper, we examine whether a joint criminal enterprise could be a reflection of a State plan and/or policy for committing the crime of genocide and how a collective plan or policy for committing that crime could be interpreted. After all, are they actually a dolus specialis of this crime, that is, whether a genocidal intent is manifested in a State precisely in a plan or policy?

Do sacred incompatibilities explain the use of genocidal sexual violence?

This paper seeks to offer a solution to a paradox existing in the literature regarding the genocidal intent of the use of sexual violence in armed conflicts: indeed, according to data highlighted by Cohen (2013), genocidal intent does not hold as a cause of the use of sexual violence in armed conflicts at a macro level. However, since there have been numerous conflicts where the use of sexual violence was genocidal in its intent, then there must be a more precise explanation that could explain this phenomenon. To do so, this paper focuses on an in-depth case study of ISIS’s targeting of Yazidi women using theory building process tracing methods. I propose the argument that sacred incompatibilities, a concept derived from Hassner (2003) and Svensson (2007) offers a plausible cause of the use of genocidal sexual violence. The case study -a most likely case- supports the argument, though the theory should be tested in other case studies. The content of this paper, particularly the analysis, can be quite emotionally challenging, and it may trigger some readers; for those I would recommend skipping the analysis.

Understanding Russia’s Actions in Ukraine as the Crime of Genocide (Translation into Ukrainian by Denys Azarov)

This is the Ukrainian-language version of the article previously published in the Journal of International Criminal Justice (Denys Azarov, Dmytro Koval, Gaiane Nuridzhanian, Volodymyr Venher, Understanding Russia’s Actions in Ukraine as the Crime of Genocide, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 21, Issue 2, May 2023, Pages 233–264, https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqad018) by Oxford University Press. The translation is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0. Abstract from an English edition. The new wave of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, and the intensification of the armed conflict accompanied by grave breaches of international humanitarian law, has received significant scholarly attention. Many academic interventions have examined the developments in Ukraine through the frameworks of jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Some, however, have applied a genocide lens to make sense of reported numerous and widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. This article contributes to the latter stream of scholarship by contextualizing the arguments for the existence of genocidal intent behind the seemingly unrelated crimes committed by the armed forces of the Russian Federation all over Ukraine. The authors pay particular attention to the language and pseudo-historical references used by Russia’s leaders as a justification for the invasion of Ukraine and argue that these statements and expressions indicate the existence of genocidal intent. This article also reflects on the issue of the systematic destruction of cultural heritage of Ukraine as further evidence of the intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation understood as a protected national group under the Genocide Convention, at least in part. Finally, the authors analyse the genocidal acts that have apparently been committed, including killings; the causing of serious bodily or mental harm; the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the deliberate infliction of conditions of life aimed at the physical destruction of the Ukrainian nation. It is stressed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the destruction of the Ukrainian nation by Russia has been pursued through commission of these prohibited acts. Their nature and large-scale character serve as further evidence of genocidal intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation.

Understanding Russia’s Actions in Ukraine as the Crime of Genocide

Abstract The new wave of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, and the intensification of the armed conflict accompanied by grave breaches of international humanitarian law, has received significant scholarly attention. Many academic interventions have examined the developments in Ukraine through the frameworks of jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Some, however, have applied a genocide lens to make sense of reported numerous and widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. This article contributes to the latter stream of scholarship by contextualizing the arguments for the existence of genocidal intent behind the seemingly unrelated crimes committed by the armed forces of the Russian Federation all over Ukraine. The authors pay particular attention to the language and pseudo-historical references used by Russia’s leaders as a justification for the invasion of Ukraine and argue that these statements and expressions indicate the existence of genocidal intent. This article also reflects on the issue of the systematic destruction of cultural heritage of Ukraine as further evidence of the intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation understood as a protected national group under the Genocide Convention, at least in part. Finally, the authors analyse the genocidal acts that have apparently been committed, including killings; the causing of serious bodily or mental harm; the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the deliberate infliction of conditions of life aimed at the physical destruction of the Ukrainian nation. It is stressed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the destruction of the Ukrainian nation by Russia has been pursued through commission of these prohibited acts. Their nature and large-scale character serve as further evidence of genocidal intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation.

Називаючи речі своїми іменами. Російська пропагандистська риторика як вірогідний доказ геноцидних намірів

The number and scale of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian military in Ukraine since the start of the all-out invasion in February 2022 have prompted many experts and politicians to define this brutality as genocide and seek prosecution of the perpetrators under international law. Ukrainian investigators and prosecutors, in cooperation with foreign colleagues, are carefully documenting relevant facts, while lawyers and diplomats are looking for optimal ways to administer justice within existing or newly created international judicial institutions. At the same time, many express a warning that among the four types of crimes recognized by the UN as the most serious and those that do not have a statute of limitations, the crime of genocide is the most difficult to prove in judicial practice, because the number of war crimes in itself, however brutal and large-scale, does not make them genocide from a legal point of view, if the most important and necessary for such a formal and legal qualification is not proven: genocidal intent on the part of the military and/or political leadership of the aggressor country. Politicians usually do not give such orders in writing, and even make them orally, as a rule, in a veiled form. Therefore, it is necessary to prove genocidal intentions in court on the basis of indirect evidence - an analysis of the entire sum of the statements of high-ranking officials of the aggressor country, who ideologically justify and encourage genocide, using various euphemisms at the same time (calling, for example, for the extermination of the fictional "Nazis" in Ukraine, under which they have meaning all self-conscious Ukrainians), as well as - on the basis of a comparison of veiled genocidal statements with the corresponding systematic actions of the occupying forces and the administration, which clearly translate the ideological instructions of the leadership into the practical plane. The author of the article shows that the genocidal intentions of the Kremlin, despite all their rhetorical veiling, can be proven if the corresponding anti-Ukrainian rhetoric of Russian government officials, experts and propagandists is systematically analyzed, deconstructed and contextualized as a certain integrity, in close connection with the specific actions of the occupying army and administration.

Environmental Violence and Natural Symbolism in Chava Rosenfarb's The Tree of Life : An Ecocritical Approach to Holocaust Memory

Abstract: Future prize-winning writer Chava Rosenfarb was seventeen years old when she was incarcerated in the Łódź ghetto. In 1972, she published The Tree of Life [Der boym fun lebn] (1972), a fictional chronicle of that experience of the Holocaust. In this three-volume epic novel, Rosenfarb narrates and interlaces the fates of ten Jewish families from pre-war Poland in 1939 to the liquidation of the ghetto in 1944. The "Tree of Life" is revealed to be the name given by the "ghettoniks" to an iconic cherry tree that stands in the shared backyard of a group of apartment complexes inhabited by many of the protagonists in the ghetto. Far from being an anecdotal presence, the cherry tree becomes the center of Rosenfarb's reflections on the impacts of the environment on one's physical and mental health. In this article, The Tree of Life is analyzed from an ecocritical perspective to examine the interconnections between genocidal intent and environmental precariousness. The first part considers the perpetration angle of the Łódź ghetto establishment as a Nazi tool of ecological violence through its excessive economic program of forced labour and its structural health determinants leading to epidemics. We will then investigate the characters' attempts to reconnect to nature through tangible acts of agency (the development of small gardens to grow one's own food) and symbolism (the cherry tree evoking the freedom of the outside world). The purpose of this article is to explore the links between genocide and ecocide within the framework of literary memory, while appreciating the relevance of Chava Rosenfarb's representations of the Holocaust to our era of renewed ecological awareness.

On the duty to protect the people of Gaza: how the collapse of the hospital health care system has reinforced genocidal intent

On the duty to protect the people of Gaza: how the collapse of the hospital health care system has reinforced genocidal intent

State and Personal Responsibility: War Crimes, Crimes of Aggression and Genocide in Ukraine

This article examines international crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine since February 24, 2022. Ukraine faces explicit acts of aggression, with a multitude of war crimes—including murder, sexual violence, and deliberate attacks on civilian property and infrastructure—being perpetrated within its borders. Additionally, there are indications of genocidal intent. Urgent attention is required to investigate the violations of international humanitarian law. Further, the article identifies the main causes of war crimes committed by the military: military errors or failures, the use of civilians as “human shields,” insufficient discipline, inadequate inculcation of legal norms related to international humanitarian law and Just War Theory within military ranks, and the use of targeted terror aimed at crushing the enemy’s will to resist. The author examines the interrelation of war crimes and information warfare in light of the importance of discerning truth amidst a sea of disinformation and cover-up. Finally, he explores national and international mechanisms for bringing perpetrators of crimes to justice, as well as seeking compensation for the damage they caused.

Genocide and Ukraine

Abstract Allegations of genocide have been made on both sides during the armed conflict in Ukraine. This article reviews the claims, concluding that they appear to be inconsistent with the crime of genocide as defined in Article II of the 1948 Convention, as interpreted by the International Court of Justice, the ad hoc tribunals and the International Law Commission. Most of the claims appear to use the term genocide in a rhetorical sense, without serious concern for the legal issues. The available evidence does not permit inferences to be drawn that the punishable acts are committed with genocidal intent, to the exclusion of other reasonable explanations.

Pinpointing Patterns of Violence: A Comparative Genocide Studies Approach to Violence Escalation in the Ukrainian Holodomor

This article utilizes the case study of the 1930s Ukrainian Holodomor, an artificially induced famine under Joseph Stalin, to advance comparative genocide studies debates regarding the nature, onset, and prevention of large-scale violence. Fieldwide debates question how to 1) distinguish genocide from other forms of large-scale violence and 2) trace genocides as unfolding processes, rather than crescendoing events. To circumvent unproductive definitional arguments, methodologies that track large-scale violence according to numerically-based thresholds have substituted for dynamics-based analyses. Able to address aspects of the genocide puzzle, these methodologies struggle to incorporate cross-cultural contextual variation or elicit ripe moments for specific, real-time interventions. Demonstrating how genocide’s precise, changing dynamics can be mapped over its duration, I present and apply a new mixed methods methodology, affirming that historical cases can inform modern prevention efforts. By coding 1932–1933 Ukraine-specific correspondences to/from Stalin, I pinpoint the precise moment when genocidal intent and victim selection overlaps.

Dehumanising Ideology, Metaphors, and Psychological Othering as Evidence of Genocidal Intent

Abstract Evidence of genocidal intent is rarely overtly available. Prosecutors arguably avoid prosecuting the crime of genocide because of its too-high evidentiary threshold. This paper argues that psychology, linguistics, and biology provide some of the tools that courts should revert to in the proof of the dolus specialis. Every genocide is characterised by dehumanisation. There is an intrinsic connection between the génocidaire’s understanding of the victims as dehumanised ‘others’ and the intent to destroy a group. Social psychology has shown that the perpetrator sets apart the victim group as inferior, subhuman, and a threat to the in-group. Dehumanising discourse exposes the perpetrators’ understanding and ideologies and makes the victim group discernible. Linguistic research reveals the significance of metaphors for dehumanisation and intergroup hostility. Lastly, research on bio-signals such as heart rate, breathing, skin conductance response or eeg can assist in measuring the impact of dehumanisation and provide the courts with yet another tool to prove genocidal intent. Through recourse to a palette of conceptual and theoretical approaches, this paper provides an account of the ways in which a dark constellation of metaphor, dehumanising ideology, and psychological othering coalesce to form genocidal intent.

Dossier: Uyghur Women in China’s Genocide

In genocide, both women and men suffer. However, their suffering has always been different; with men mostly subjected to torture and killings, and women mostly subjected to torture and mutilation. These differences stem primarily from the perpetrators' ideology and intention to exterminate the targeted people. Many patriarchal societies link men with blood lineage and the group’s continuation, while women embody the group’s reproductivity and dignity. In the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan, the ideology of Chinese colonialism is a root cause. It motivates the targeting of women as the means through which to destroy the reproductivity and the dignity of the people as a whole. It is a common misunderstanding to associate genocide with only mass killings, and the current lack of evidence for massacres has led some to prematurely conclude there is no genocide. But this overlooks the targeting of women, which is also a prominent part of the definition of genocide laid out in the Genocide Convention. State policy in China intentionally targets Uyghur and other Turkic women in multiple ways. This dossier is focused on analyzing China’s targeted policies against Uyghur women and their “punishment,” as rooted in part in ancient Chinese legalist philosophy. In doing so, this dossier contributes toward further exposing Chinese colonialism and the genocidal intent now in evidence.

Ethnic Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge: the genocide and race debate

ABSTRACT This paper provides insights on the Communist Party of Kampuchea’s (CPK) ethnic policy through the dynamics of its relationship with ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia during the 1970s. During Cambodia’s civil war between the CPK and the Lon Nol government, the CPK regarded Vietnamese in Cambodia as supporters of its political movement. The paper demonstrates that although class categorization undermined CPK treatment of Vietnamese and other minority groups (notably Chinese and Cham) throughout the four years (1975–1979) of Democratic Kampuchea (DK), internal plots, suspicions of non-Khmer people, and a war with Vietnam led to the expulsion of the vast majority of Vietnamese in 1975. Expulsion gave way to the mass murder from mid-1977 onward of many of the remaining Vietnamese and mixed-parentage children. By demonstrating how CPK notions of class outweighed those of race, the paper argues that CPK purges against Vietnamese should be understood within the framework of CPK efforts to eliminate suspected enemies from Vietnam rather than stemming from genocidal intent.

Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt

Reviewed by: Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt Michael Leroy Oberg Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory. By Claudio Saunt. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2020. Pp. xx, 396. Paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-0-393-54156-4; cloth, $26.95, ISBN 978-0-393-60984-4.) The pages of Claudio Saunt's Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory echo with cries of injustice from the many thousands of Native people dispossessed and expelled from their homelands in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. This challenging and very important book will force even those historians who find "Indian Removal" a familiar topic to reassess their thinking. This is the best book on removal that I have ever read. To begin with, Saunt rejects the term "Indian Removal" because "it conveys no sense of coercion or violence" (p. xiii). He avoids ethnic cleansing and genocide as well, though he is well aware that white Americans acted on occasion with genocidal intent. In their place he favors deportation, expulsion, and extermination. Three arguments rest at the heart of Unworthy Republic. First, "the state-administered mass expulsion of indigenous people was unprecedented" (p. xv). Though relocations were a fact of life for Native peoples, what occurred in the 1830s was different in terms of its size, scope, system, and nature. A related argument is that the mass expulsion "was a turning point for indigenous peoples and for the United States" (p. xvii). Thereafter it was the military might of the United States that maintained a moving frontier for white Americans "by killing native people or concentrating them on marginal lands" (p. xvii). Finally, Saunt argues that this deportation was not inevitable, whatever the policy's apologists or subsequent historians contend. The Constitution's three-fifths clause provided the votes needed to enact the Removal Bill in 1830. Indigenous peoples wanted to remain on their lands and asserted that they had the right to do so. Well before gold was discovered in northwest Georgia, well before the Cherokee Nation wrote its national constitution, a small group of southern planters hatched a plot to drive Native peoples across the Mississippi River by rendering life in their homelands unbearable. Andrew Jackson, whose violence toward Native peoples is well described, abetted this program to transform autonomous Native American communities into slave labor camps. In stunning detail, Saunt describes the mechanics of expulsion in all its violence and chicanery. He demonstrates how no white southerners took seriously Jackson's maudlin claims that deportation was a benevolent solution to a disordered frontier. The president's appointees, as wretched a crew as one will ever encounter, openly cheated Native peoples, ignored provisions in treaties that allowed Indians to remain on their lands, and did little to effectively curtail the ravages of expulsion, such as cholera, cold, and the lack of adequate provision. Saunt also brilliantly illuminates the machinations that financed the expulsion of Native peoples. Bankers in New York and Boston jumped "when the opportunity arose to invest in the dispossession of native peoples." They made a killing. "These men," Saunt writes, "were the North's equivalent of southern [End Page 340] planters. While one practiced slavery and the other investment banking, both groups were equally indifferent to the fate of indigenous Americans and the slaves who would replace them" (p. 187). Native peoples resisted those forces that sought their extermination, and Saunt tells their stories well. Importantly, he points out that this resistance exposed the lie in the government's claims. In the end, "the difference between deportation and extermination was never as clear as U.S. officials liked to believe," Saunt writes, and "the putative benevolent goal of moving indigenous Americans to the nation's outermost margins became the excuse to expel them by force of arms or to kill them" (p. 232). Soldiers, militiamen, and vigilantes "were merely substantiating what Jacksonian experts had predicted all along: Native peoples who remained in the East would be exterminated" (p. 233). White men wanted the land, and slave labor camps took root quickly...

Making the Case for Genocide, the Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Peoples of Peru

Peru’s national health program Programa de Salud Reproductiva y Planificación Familiar (PSRPF) aimed to uphold women’s reproductive rights and address the scarcity in maternity related services. Despite these objectives, during PSRPF’s implementation the respect for women’s rights were undermined with the forced sterilization of women predominantly of indigenous, poor, and rural backgrounds. This study considers the forced sterilization of indigenous women as a genocide. Making the case for genocide has not been done previously with this particular case. Using the normative markers of the Genocide Convention, this study categorically sets forced sterilization victims from the state-led-policy as victims of genocide, considering the effects the health malpractice had on victims’ reproductive rights and the prevention of births of future indigenous populations. In doing so, this study proves the genocidal intent from the state to destroy in whole or in part, an ethnic minority group.