Violence Against Women and Girls in Kenya & the Genocide Convention

The protests and marches currently occurring in Kenya depict a situation that has been unattended for quite a time. The historic subordination of women has left them prone to insults and physical attacks. In recent years, media reports have shown a daunting rise in female mortality deaths. This showcases a deeper societal ill in Kenya that needs to be addressed.

It is these targeted, sex-specific fatalities that provoke a legitimate discussion regarding the connection between femicide and a larger, more sinister offense – genocide. In this essay, I aim to assert that femicide, when examined at a broader level, can be considered a manifestation of genocide specifically targeting women based on their sex.

Crimes of genocide against female groups have been neglected for an extended period. It is paramount to analyze them as possible acts of genocide. For example, the Peruvian mass sterilization of roughly 300,000 women went unpunished. The motive? Population control.

Overlooking the sex-based aspects of the attack prevented an proper societal reflection on issues related to violence against women and girls. Essentially, ignoring that the attack targeted women because they were women hindered the wider acknowledgment of violence against women as a societal problem, impeding efforts to address its root causes and implement effective preventive modalities.

The Genocide Convention states that killing members of a group, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group is genocide. To that extent, the Genocide Convention categorizes and offers a closed list as to who forms a group- national, ethnical, racial or religious. However, this leaves violence against women and girls out of the picture.

Because sex does not fall in the specified categories in the Genocide Convention, violence against women and girls does not qualify for protection under the Genocide Convention. With the mutable landscape of criminal activities, it becomes crucial to widen the range of categorization to include violence against women and girls.

Progressive groups want to replace the term “violence against women and girls” with “gender-based violence” to frame opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage as an act of violence. The term also deviates from biological male/female distinctions. For this reason, we should go back to the term “violence against women and girls” based on biological sex.

By aligning with the Convention's emphasis on group harm, we can interpret biological sex as a protected group, acknowledging the disturbing impact of mass sex-based killings. Thus, deaths based on sex, meeting the intent criteria, should unequivocally be considered acts of genocide. This will promote a conscientious understanding that reveals the evolving nature of genocidal violence.

The choice to omit sex as a protected defeats the purpose of International Criminal Law. Identifying sex as a protected group ensures that International Criminal Law fulfills its broader aim of preventing the most serious crimes against women and girls. To fill this lacuna, the Genocide Convention needs an addendum.

Broadening the Genocide Convention to include sex does not dilute the crime of genocide but rather adds an important facet to a group in need of protection. There have been numerous historic mass killings (sex-specific genocides) targeting a women and girls with intent to annihilate, such as, Witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe, widow burning and the Massacre of Bangladesh men in 1971.  

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