Former US Ambassador for War Crimes Stephen Rapp, who served as senior trial attorney and attorney general at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, established by the United Nations (UN), on the definition of genocide and the impact of media outlets on genocidal groups. made evaluations.
Rapp, genocide; He noted that mass deaths in every war cannot be considered as genocide, by defining them as acts undertaken with the intent to destroy people because of their race, political opinion, religion, social status or any other distinctive characteristics.
Referring to the genocide in Rwanda, in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in 100 days, Rapp used the following statements:
"It was clear that there was genocide in Rwanda, but in most others we can talk about mass atrocities that could be war crimes, especially in ongoing civil or international wars. There are attacks on innocent civilians or soldiers who have surrendered and no longer pose a threat or are in custody. These are crimes against humanity and mass murder operations targeting people for political reasons. Just as 150,000 people were eliminated by the regime in Syrian prisons, and perhaps 100,000 more were killed by starvation and torture."
Rapp stated that Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide lists the necessary conditions for the crime of genocide.
"What is needed for genocide? There must be certain acts of torture, including primarily killing, and severe mental and physical harm. This includes efforts to reduce births. In addition, the removal of children from their families and their transfer from one group to another may constitute an act of genocide," Rapp added.
Genocide against the Uyghurs
Rapp pointed out that Uyghur Muslims were forced to use birth control in East Turkestan under Chinese occupation.
"The Uyghur birth rate has fallen so dramatically that in some areas the birth rate is lower than the death rate. Therefore, after two or three generations, the Uighurs will cease to exist. This could be an act of genocide. For the crime of genocide to occur, there must have been an actual intent to destroy a group, in whole or in a significant part," Rapp said.
“PROVOCATIVE POSTINGS CAN LEAD TO A MASSACRE CAMPAIGN”
Pointing out that the hate speech produced in the media encourages groups that are prone to genocide, Rapp explained that the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994, and that propaganda activities were carried out for the murder of Tutsis through radio and newspaper broadcasts at that time.
Rapp continued as follows:
"Constructing false information and messages that some people are the 'enemy' can over time enable a mass murder campaign against those people. If this propaganda drum had not been ringing all the time, I liken it to air support in ground operations, reinforcing what the forces are doing on the ground and giving people the message that 'we take the order from above, this is what we need to do'. Therefore, there is no doubt that this contributed greatly to the genocide."
“MYANMAR ARMY HAS A SITE SPREADING HATE”
Reminding that the operations carried out by the Myanmar army against the Rohingya Muslims in 2017 were realized through hateful posts on social media, Rapp concluded his words as follows:
"About 10 thousand Rohingya were killed, women were raped and more than 300 villages were burned in the operations. 800,000 people were sent across the border to Bangladesh. Most of the messages sent to the communities there, to the non-Muslim communities, to support and join the murderers, were sent via mass media such as Facebook. Also, the military had a site that had over a million followers and spread that kind of hate. They said the Rohingyas were enemies, not citizens, Bengali, not part of the nation."