‘Anatomy of a Genocide’ is the title of a report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Ms Albanese was appointed in May 2022 by the Human Rights Council as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 – a position previously held by South Africa’s Prof. John Dugard. This report is Ms Albanese's fourth report as Special Rapporteur and was published on the 25th of March 2024.
The report, which does not examine the situation in the West Bank, contends that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met” in terms of what is transpiring in Gaza. With the understanding that genocide is a process and not a single act, the report contextualizes genocide by drawing the link between genocide and settler-colonialism. In this regard, the report says:
“Genocidal intent and practices are integral to the ideology and processes of settler-colonialism… As settler-colonialism aims to acquire Indigenous land and resources, the mere existence of Indigenous peoples poses an existential threat to the settler society. Destruction and replacement of Indigenous people become therefore ‘unavoidable’ and take place through different methods depending on the perceived threat to the settler group.”
It goes on to say that since 1967, Israel’s settler-colonial project has been advanced through military occupation and has resulted in the segregation and control of Palestinians which has included land confiscation, house demolitions, revoked residencies and deportation. This has accompanied the framing of Palestinians as a ‘security threat’ as a justification for their oppression and dehumanisation.
The report speaks to the legal framework around genocide (namely the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide), outlining that the exercise of any one or more specific acts (five acts are specified) must accompany the intent behind such acts and that only when both components are satisfied can conduct then legally constitute genocide. In short, it is the interconnectedness of both the acts itself and the perpetrator’s intent to destroy the group (in whole or in part) that serves to distinguish genocidal acts from other international crimes.
What is then detailed in the report after the legal background is provided is evidence that Israel has committed at least three of the acts outlined in the Convention, namely:
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
After substantiating each of the above with evidence, the report touches on genocidal intent – which, as mentioned, is needed to differentiate such acts from other international crimes. Several examples of public statements made by high-ranking Israeli officials, including Israel’s Prime Minister and President are used to demonstrate the genocidal intent and how such statements have been internalized and acted upon by troops on the ground. In this regard, the report says that:
“Israeli soldiers have, including on social media channels run by the Israeli military, repeated terms articulated by political leaders, chanting that “there are no ‘uninvolved civilians’”, while also calling for the building of settlements in Gaza, “occupy[ing] Gaza... wip[ing] off the seed of Amalek”, boasting about killing “families, mothers, and children”, destroying entire residential neighbourhoods”
The terminology used by Israel such as human shields, collateral damage, safe zones, evacuations and medical protection – which are commonplace in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) – subverts their protective purpose. This ultimately erodes the distinction between civilians and combatants in Israeli actions in Gaza. For instance, Israeli authorities have “characterized churches, mosques, schools, UN facilities, universities, hospitals and ambulances as connected with Hamas to reinforce the perception of a population characterized as broadly ‘complicit’ and therefore killable.”
Speaking to the 25-page report at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ms Albanese implored member states to abide by their obligations and signalled out an arms embargo against Israel as a necessary action that should be taken in this regard.
1. These five acts are (i) killing members of the group; (ii) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (iii) 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