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Mass Rape is Genocide

Bangladesh Genocide Examined

by Ahmed Ziauddin
***However, if history is any indication, no one in Turkey was punished for the rape of Armenian women in 1915, none has so far been in Bangladesh for the mass rape in 1971 or some 20,000 Bosnian Muslim women victims in 1992 are sill waiting for justice. Why? Is it because rape is a gender specified act?***
THE genocide the world witnessed in 1971 was carried out by the Pakistan government. Its military killed three million people in about nine months in Bangladesh. At the same time, some three hundred thousand women were raped by the military and their local collaborators. In terms of mere number of victims, Bangladesh genocide tops the list of the rape victims, ever perpetrated In history.
In a way. what Pakistanis did to the women of Bangladesh was not new. History is littered with examples of rapes committed by societies of many persuasions. The first such example dates to back twelfth century BC Rapes were committed by ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans, Crusaders. Mongols. Spaniards in sixteenth century America. Englishmen in nineteenth century Australia, Americans in tribal areas In California in the nineteenth century, Turks in twentieth century Armenia and Serbs in Bosnia in 1992 and so on.
Historically, warfare was synonymous with genocide, with men being routinely killed and women and children cap-tived. The rape of women after victory was customary Women taken into captivity would then be subject to an ongoing rape: their bodies were a form of booty, subject to ownership and use like other property taken as spoils of a war.
Genocide scholars have observed that genocide and rapes almost always occurred together except in two notable situations.
In the Nazi genocide of Jews. Jewish women were not raped by Hitler's soldiers. Instead. Nazis committed acts of sexual abuse against Jewish women such as exposure of their bodies to the eyes of German males to the accompaniment of obscene comments and gestures.' Thus, "humiliation of Jewish women was part of the Nazi policy of genocide, but. due to racial ideology, this was not achieved to any extent through rape." What the Nazis demanded from Jewish women were their lives.
In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge regime, is the other example of genocide on a massive scale with little sexual violation. The regime punished rape by death. The ideology was. "one's body and emotions belonged to the movement" and the regime even controlled "sexuality" of the people. Thus, "for ideological reasons, the Khmer Rouge did not violate women through rape" but "for the same reasons they did not hesitate to take the lives of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian women in the genocidal
pursuit of the perfect society."
Relationship between rape
and genocide
There are more views than one relating to the nature of relationship between rape and genocide. One view is. rape Is a private act. and as such, has with no political link. It Is “simply incidental to genocide, as to the war" and “is the result of pent-up sexual desire." However. such individualistic explanation cannot be sustained, because, "in ancient genocide, rape and enslavement of women was the rule, not the spontaneous actions of Indi viduals." Secondly, rape as individual's desire cannot explain "collective rituals of degradation that often accompany rape."
The other explanation Is found in male versus female dichotomy in that rape "Is the result of male's desire to control women through fear." It Is "nothing more or less than a conscious process of Intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear/ But Sain, this approach Ignores
: fact that in genocide, only one group of men attack another group of women, not all men keep all women In fear. In 1971, only Bengali women were the victims of rape.
The other view specifically refers to the political nature of rape. It maintains that rape in genocide is carried out with a political purpose to intimidate, humiliate and degrade the women and others by her suffering. Its purpose is to terrorise members of the victim group. It is also an "attempt by the perpetrators to force pregnancy upon women of the group."
Rape: by command or sanction?
The next question for determination is whether rapes committed in genocide are by command or by permission By command It means the orders are usually handed down from above. In other circumstances, commands may not necessarily be explicit but "embedded in tradition and common expectation." For example, at a time when genocide was synonymous with war and with the Mongols.
fate of women was understood to be that of rape and enslavement rather than death." No explicit command was necessary as the "standing rules" about how the "booty", which included women from the defeated group, was to be divided .
Rape in genocide entails where those who decide to commit genocide set the process of destroying a group in whole or In part, "mobilise the men and material to carry it out. and Issue general directives about such things as the need to cleanse' the territory of the ethnic, racial, or religious groups chosen for destruction.” The rest left to the commanders on the ground who implement the general directives. The higher authority simply do not Interfere, instead, they encourage it. approve it since rape helps to achieve the goal and that "there are no Incentives for the authorities to prohibit mass rape within the context of genocide."
Rape, a genocidal policy
Whether the rape in genocide is commanded or sanctioned, it becomes a policy of genocide. Even If it is difficult to determine "a single pattern of mass rape" or If the patterns of rape are varied, still it forms the part of the policy of genocidal rape. The leaders of the perpetrator group shoulder full legal and moral responsibilities for the rapes, more so. when the leadership fail to condemn the rapes or do not inflict punishment rather deny acts of rape.
Objectives of rape in genocide
The perpetrators aim varies according to the nature of genocide. In earlier period, when war was inseparable from genocide, rape was widespread and routine. In retributive genocide, '"the likelihood Is either that women will be killed at the outset or raped and then killed" Instead of enslavement. In utilitarian genocide. In conflicts between Indigenous peo-Cles and settlers, rape occurs, ut “is more Individualistic than systematic." Genocides that arise out of ethnic or racial conflict, the object "is primarily to create terror in an at-
tempt to cause members of the group to flee or become so demoralised that they are unable to resist the genocide."
In genocide, rape often becomes a reward to soldiers for jobs nicely done or to desensitise those engaged In genocide. The object also is to "destroy the moral identity of the victims, reducing them. and. by extension. the group from which they come, to an abject, powerless object." Humiliation and degradation of the victims, are two other objectives. The perpetrators are after destroying the victim's humanity by subjecting members of the group to various rituals of degradation. Closely followed by, the perpetrators attempt to force pregnancy on women in order to Inflict continuing pain, humiliation and shame on the women and their group.
Bangladesh genocide
To understand rapes committed during 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, the facts have to be established first. One fact is certain that the rapes were widespread. A reputed American genocide scholar reckons 200.000 rape victims and 25.000 resulting pregnancies, though, the popular and widely held local estimate is. at least 300,000 women suffered. New York Times on 30 January. 1972 reported quoting Bangladesh officials the figure of 200.000. International Commission of Jurist's invest! gation confirms that "very many accounts agree is the who(esale rape of women and young girls by Pakistan sol diers The variations In num bers. however, do not alter basis of tape in genocide nor do diminish legal consequences or moral responsibilities.
The rapes carried out by the Pakistani army and their allies were systematic to humiliate the Bengali people, who were making strong demands for autonomy from Pakistan. "Women, both Muslim and Hindu, were taken from their homes, the fields, or the streets and subjected to individual and group rape. Many were taken to military brothels, where they were made to mimic the traditional roles of women as housekeepers and sexual object.
In desperation some of the women resisted by using their long braids to hand themselves."
The rapes were also an attempt to stifle Bengali nationalism by diluting the population with children fathered by Pakistanis; it was intended to dominate the Bengalis. Rapes by the Pakistanis cannot be explained by male's expression over women because the victims were all Bengali women and non-Bengali women were not attacked.
In Bangladesh, the rapes resulted from orders that came from the top military brass as a part of Pakistan's genocidal policy. The consistent pattern of rape that took place simultaneously all over the country and repeated over same fashion over time, demonstrates that the orders in fact came down from high-ups. Further, as the International Commission of Jurist s 1972 report contains. The officers turned a blind eye to this savagery, and when challenged denied that it occurred. In many cases the officers themselves kept young girls locked up to serve their pleasure" proves that the rapes were commanded and sanctioned as well.
Pakistanis also intended to change biological and social heritage of the Bengalis as many women were held tn detention camp for a long period to prevent termination of pregnancies to ensure birth of the child so that biological line is altered
The children too were violated by the Pakistanis. Though, It is not known what percentage of rape victims were children or young teenagers, but. according to an estimate, about twenty per cent of those raped, and many of whom became pregnant, were between the ages of twelve to sixteen. The raped child often were rejected by her own family as a source of shame and many of them committed suicide. This "infliction of hurt and continuing pain Is an Important goal of such genocidal rape " Mass rape in Bangladesh
was genocide
The final question is the legal status of rapes In genocide.
In national legal norms, rape has criminal consequences. However, in genocidal situations. effects are still unclear. International community now recognises mass rape as a war crime but not genocide.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, adopted by the General Assembly of tne United Nations on 9 December. 1948 and in Bangladesh, the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act. 1973 provide the definition of genocide.
Bangladesh law says: "Genocide: meaning and including any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy. In whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, religious or political group, such as: (i) killing members of the group; (ii) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (111) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (iv) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (v) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."
Pakistanis, in committing mass rape in Bangladesh, calculated and intentionally, caused serious bodily and mental harm, and attempted to inflict upon victims condition that brought its physical destruction. and through forcible impregnation. and the killing of the males, attempted to interfere with the birth. The purpose of inflicting continuing pain, creating terror through rape etc. put together clearly demonstrates the intention of the Pakistanis. that they were up to destroy Bengalis as a group, at least in part, which is simply an act of genocide.
Thus, the perpetrators of mass rape in Bangladesh can be brought to Justice under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act. 1973 for committing genocide. also they remain liable under the Genocide Convention and the International community are obliged to exercise Jurisdiction over them.
However, if history Is any indication, no one in Turkey was punished for the rape of Armenian women in 1915, none has so far been in Bangladesh for the mass rape In 1971 or some 20,000 Bosnian Muslim women victims in 1992 are sill waiting for justice. Why? Is it because rape Is a gender specified act?
The writer Is a researcher at Brussels Catholic University and for this write-up. greatly Indebted to Professors Smith and Fine.