Genocide is defined in international law in the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. The Convention entered into force on 12 January, 1951 with more than 130 nations ratifying this convention. The test of Article II of the Genocide Convention was included as a crime in Article 6 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Zimbabwe is a signatory to this Convention.
There are two salient articles in the Convention:
Article II: genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- Killing members of the group
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Article III: the following acts shall be punishable:
- Genocide
- Conspiracy to commit genocide
- Direct and public incitement to commit genocide
- Attempt to commit genocide
- Complicity to commit genocide
The following are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence:
- Killing members of the group includes direct killing and actions causing death
- Causing serious bodily harm or mental harm includes inflicting trauma on members of the group through widespread torture, rape, sexual violence, forced or coerced use of drugs and mutilation
- Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes a deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services.
- Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.
As can be seen, acts of genocide need not kill or cause death of members of a group; torture, political rape, displacement, deprivation and various other actions short of killing are also included in the definition.
The following incidents in Zimbabwefit into the above definition:
- Abduction, rape, torture, beating, murder Gukuruhundi: Matabeleland in the early 1980’s, the post Referendum violence in Feb. 2000, the pre-election violence in 2000, 2002 and 2005 and now in 2007 with a vengeance.
- The wrongful illegal arrests and detention of opposition party members, supporters, administrators and MP’s, commercial farm workers and farmers, journalists, civic society leaders (indeed anyone who believes in democracy and has the courage to say so).
- Forced illegal violent eviction (and looting) of large scale commercial farmers and their farm employees from their homes and workplace resulting in over 2 million men, women and children being displaced.
- Operation Murambatsvina, carried out by the State using Army, militia and Police leaving over 700,000 families homeless.
- The Op M on the vendors leaving hundreds of thousands of people unable to make an honest living by vending, in a climate of 80% unemployment.
- With holding food aid to members/supporters of the opposition party.
- Illegal take over of businesses in the cities by the ruling party elite.
STAGE SIX – PREPARATION FOR GENOCIDE.
In February, 2002 Genocide Watch argued that Zimbabwewas at the preparation stage. Here the “out group” is visibly distinguished by the perpetrators. It is the final point at which the International Community can take preventive action.
Based on their analysis, Genocide Watch declared the following in Feb., 2002:
Genocide Watch declares a Political Watch for Zimbabwe. We call on governments to protest not only President Mugabe’s new restriction on civil liberties, but also to demand in the strongest terms, that Zanu PF dismantle and disarm its Youth militia, and that the Zimbabwe Army brigade be withdrawn from Matabeleland. President Mugabe must be put on notice that if political or genocidal massacres are committed by these militias or by elements of the Zimbabwe Armed Forces, he will be held personally responsible. Zimbabwe’s leaders should be notified that if such massacres occur, the US and EU will support armed intervention by a UN – authorised regional force, and President Mugabe and those who might perpetrate the crimes would be subjected to prosecution.
It is now April, 2007 and the SITUATION IS FAR MORE SERIOUS now than when this Genocide Watch was declared. It IS taking place right now.
