8 minute read
The Ugly Truth
GENOCIDE IS STILL HAPPENING, AND IT’S TIME WE TALK ABOUT IT By Gabrielle Gronewold, Culture Editor Graphic by Rose Quinlan
TW: Discussion of rape, forced sterilization, genocide crimes and violence
Following the Holocaust, nations around the globe vowed to never let genocide happen again, via the United Nations Genocide Convention. Despite this utopian ideal, genocides have continued to exist with striking parallels to their violent historic predecessors. Yet we don’t talk about this ugly truth enough as a society.
By definition, the United Nations has defined genocide as committing acts with the intent to destroy a whole or a part of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group through the means of killing members of the group, inflicting serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting conditions of life on to members of the group with the intent to cause physical destruction and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Crafted in December of 1948, the international law against genocide intended to prevent and punish genocide, yet over half a century later in 2021, these human rights violations still exist in many countries, including the United States.1
Since 1948, genocides such as those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Srebrenica, Darfur and many other human rights violations have resulted in the deaths of millions of individuals on the basis of their identity. Today, there are currently millions of people losing their lives and being impacted by genocide crimes, such as the current genocide against Uyghur muslims in China.
Furthermore, the actions of the United States government under multiple administrations have
1 “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide,” UN, Decemeber 9, 1948. arguably fit the UN definition of genocide, most recently through separating immigrant children from their families and allegations of illegal hysterectomies performed on immigrant women in detainment centers.2 A pediatrician visiting a Border Patrol Facility in Texas reported “extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or adequate food.”3 It may be uncomfortable to analyze these facilities as such, but it is evident that there are human rights violations happening in the land of the free.
Part of the sentiment contributing to the idea that genocides are a thing of the past is in the way we teach about them. In the American education system, many curriculums focus on the Holocaust when teaching students about genocide or 20th century European history. Stanford Professor Elliot Eisner defines the exclusion of other genocides from education systems as a “null curriculum.” Null curriculum contributes to the lack of awareness that 1) genocides have happened consistently throughout history and that 2) genocides are happening in low-income, non-western societies.4 While the Holocaust is history’s widest documented genocide, focusing education solely around this event makes it appear that genocide is an isolated incident of the past, and neglects to acknowledge its long-term aftermath, such as the high rates of antisemitism that are still prevalent today. In reality, genocide is much more widespread than this, affecting many people of many identities globally. →
2 “ICE Whistleblower: Mexico Investigating US Immigrant ‘Sterilisations’.” BBC News. BBC, September 23, 2020. 3 Serena Marshall, Lana Zak and Jennifer Metz, “Doctor compares conditions for unaccompanied children at immigrant holding centers to ‘torture facilities’,” ABC News, June 23, 2019. 4 Ibid.
Education isn’t the only contributing factor in why modern genocide isn’t widely understood. News media has continuously missed the mark on informing citizens of genocide crimes in a timely and comprehensive matter. In 1994, approximately 500,000 Rwandan Tutsi — 80% of the country’s Tutsi population — were killed in the Rwandan Genocide. Considered one of the most efficient genocides of modern time, the killings took place over roughly three months. However Western media failed to report on the violence until three weeks into the events, at which point 250,000 Tutsi had already lost their lives.5
The main reason the news experienced a lapse in coverage was due to the Rwandan government misleading the public and international leaders to believe that a civil war was occurring, rather than a genocide. Rwanda had been plagued by civil war from 1990 to 1993 and by leading people to believe the war had continued, they were able to carry out their plan for three weeks without attracting too much attention from American media.6
I would like to think there have been lessons learned from the lack of Western coverage of the Rwandan Genocide, but the outlook is grim considering the lack of genocide coverage during the last few years. COVID-19 and public health have dominated the news cycle due to the need to inform on mask mandates and vaccine rollouts. But human rights violations did not wait for the end of the pandemic, and the lack of public interest is a sign of our lack of awareness of what modern genocide looks like.
5 Alan Kuperman, “How the media missed the Rwanda Genocide,” International Press Institute, July 1 2003. 6 Ibid. For example, human rights groups believe China has detained millions of Uyghur muslims for the last few years into “re-education camps,”7 on the basis that the Uyghur population is seeking autonomy and sovereignty.8 Despite this, the Newlines Institute just produced the first independent report on the ongoing treatment of the Uyghur people with the application of the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention on March 8 of this year9 and the U.S. government did not acknowledge China’s behaviors as genocide until late January of this year.10 We are seeing history repeat itself as the Chinese government has continued oppressing the Uyghurs and yet serious efforts to define and treat this as a genocide are just now beginning here in America.
Women in these camps are being raped, sexually abused and tortured, including through the use of forced sterilization. A woman named Tursunay Ziawudun spent nine months in one of these camps. She shared with the BBC many of the horrific, indescribable actions and details of her time there claiming “Their goal is to destroy everyone,” and “everybody knows it.”11
This motive to destroy an entire ethno-religious group can be clearly seen in the Chinese government’s sterilization efforts. Hundreds of thousands of women are routinely subject to pregnancy tests, IUD insertions, abortions and permanent sterilization as an attempt to erase the population.12 This is the textbook definition example of what the UN means by
7 BBC News, “Who are the Uighers and why is China being accused of genocide?” March 26, 2021. 8 Deirdre Shesgreen, “The US says China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Here’s some of the most chilling evidence,” USA Today, April 2 2021. 9 “The Uyghur Genocide: An Examination of China’s Breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention,” Newslines Institue, March 8, 2021. 10 Deirdre Shesgreen, “The US says China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Here’s some of the most chilling evidence,” USA Today, April 2 2021. 11 Matthew Hill, David Campanale and Joel Gunter, “‘Their goal is to destroy everyone’: Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape,” BBC News, Feburary 2, 2021. 12 The Associated Press, “China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization” June 28, 2020. Beyond forced sterilization women are also subject to horrible sex crimes. Explained as a scene of organized rape by the BBC, Ziawudun shared that men “would pay money to have their pick of the prettiest young inmates,” and that everyday women were being locked up in chains and raped repeatedly.13
It is difficult to hear about the terrible things happening to women in these circumstances. But that is why it is so important to be aware of current events and listen to people’s experiences. It may be easier to turn a blind eye, but by sitting with and listening to the experiences of others we can all become more informed citizens and begin to hold perpetrators accountable.
The problem is that genocide is an ongoing problem. When the UN implemented the 1948 Genocide Convention, it was successful in defining what genocide is, but it’s not doing much for how efficiently we react to them.
It’s ignorant to think that genocides are no longer a reality. The principle that ignorance is bliss comes into play and it’s easy to imagine a world where the problems we experience and discuss are the same problems that everyone, everywhere also experiences or discusses. But that is not true.
Beyond our own personal oasis of bliss and independent struggle, there is an entire world of hate and violence that we know nothing about. The weight of this can be heavy, but it’s why we need to continue to strengthen conversations around human rights violations. Think critically about the treatment of groups of people, be an ethical and conscious media consumer and above all don’t fall prey to the idea that genocides are our history when they are very much a part of our present. ■
13 Matthew Hill, David Campanale and Joel Gunter, “‘Their goal is to destroy everyone’: Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape,” BBC News, Feburary 2, 2021.
