Editing Genocide Convention (section)

=== Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group ''Article II(b)'' ===
This second prohibited act can encompass a wide range of non-fatal genocidal acts.<ref>{{cite book |quote=Direct Killing is Not the Only Way to Commit Genocide ... '': Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group''...The drafters appreciated that there is more than one way (i.e. killing) to perpetuate genocide. |pages=37–68 (45–46) |first1=Samuel |last1=Totten |first2=Henry |last2=Theriault |chapter=The Complexities Inherent in the UNCG |title=The United Nations Genocide Convention: An Introduction |location=Toronto |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-1487524081}} In practice, this could include deaths from the deliberate infection of Tutsi women with [[HIV/AIDS]] through rape in the [[Rwandan genocide]] or from the abuse and denial of food [[Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL|inflicted by ISIL]] on [[Yazidis|Yazidi]] sex slaves by [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|ISIL]]'s [[Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL#Slave market process|use of sexual slavery]]. To date, neither has been prosecuted as such.</ref> The ICTR and [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) have held that rape and sexual violence may constitute the second prohibited act of genocide by causing both physical and mental harm. In its landmark [[Jean-Paul Akayesu|Akayesu]] decision, the ICTR held that rapes and sexual violence resulted in "physical and psychological destruction".<ref>Prosecutor v. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment, 2 September 1998, para. 731.</ref> Sexual violence is a hallmark of genocidal violence, with most genocidal campaigns explicitly or implicitly sanctioning it.<ref name="Ashraph" /> It is estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 women were raped in the three months of the Rwandan genocide, many of whom were subjected to multiple rapes or [[gang rape]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Stephanie K. |last=Wood |title=A Woman Scorned for the "Least Condemned" War Crime: Precedent and Problems with Prosecuting Rape as a Serious Crime in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda |volume=13 |number=274 |journal=[[Columbia Journal of Gender & Law]] |pages=299–301 |date=2004}}</ref> In Darfur, a systemic campaign of rape and often sexual mutilation was carried out,<ref>{{cite report |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |title=Darfur in Flames: Atrocities in Western Sudan |pages=26–29 |date=2004}}</ref> and in Burma, public mass rapes and gang rapes were inflicted on the Rohingya by Burmese security forces.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Grant |last1=Shubin |first2=Elena |last2=Sarver |first3=Kristin |last3=Smith |title=Discrimination to Destruction: A Legal Analysis of Gender Crimes Against the Rohingya |publisher=[[Global Justice Center]] |date=2018 |url=http://globaljusticecenter.net/blog/20-publications/briefs-and-white-papers/953-discrimination-to-destruction-a-legal-analysis-of-gender-crimes-against-the-rohingya |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> [[Sexual slavery]] was documented in the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Turks and Daesh's genocide of the Yazidi.{{sfn|OHCHR|2016|loc=paras. 32–41}}

Torture and other cruel, [[inhuman, or degrading treatment]] or punishment, when committed with the requisite intent, are also genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. The ICTY found that both experiencing a failed execution and watching the murder of one's family members may constitute torture.<ref>Prosecutor v. Karadžić, Case No. IT-95-5/18-T, Trial Judgment, para. [545], Int’l Crim. Trib. for the Former Yugoslavia, 24 March 2016, para. 5664; Patricia Viseur Sellers, "Genocide Gendered: The Srebrenica Cases", The Fifth Annual Katherine B. Fite Lecture, Proceedings of the Ninth International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, 30 Aug. – 1 September 2015.</ref> The [[Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic|Syrian Commission of Inquiry (COI)]] also found that enslavement, removal of one's children into indoctrination or sexual slavery, and acts of physical and sexual violence rise to the level of torture as well. While it was subject to some debate, the ICTY and later the Syrian COI held that under some circumstances deportation and forcible transfer may also cause serious bodily or mental harm.<ref>Popović, Case No. IT-05-88-T, para. [846]; Tolimir, IT-05-88/2-A, para. [209]; Karadžić, IT-95-5/18-T, para. [545]; {{harvnb|OHCHR|2016|loc=32–41}}</ref>