Author: ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstract: »The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda's historic judgment in the Akayesu Judgment established that rape and other forms of sexual violence can be an actus reus of genocide as defined by the United Nations Convention on Genocide Article II. The Akayesu Judgment therefore provides a logical framework to analyze a hidden episode of extreme post-colonial state violence in the newly independent Zimbabwe, namely a state policy of mass atrocities in Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands, targeting the minority Ndebele ethnic group during Operation Gukurahundi. The specific foci of this study are the patterns of mass rape and sexual violence in the military operation between 1983 and 1984 in Matabeleland. Drawing on 36 in-depth interviews with survivors from throughout Matabeleland, this study provides a critical new lens on Operation Gukurahundi through its identification of uniform systematic patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence across Matabeleland. The article concludes that the patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence identified in this study are indicative of a state policy of systematic genocidal rape between 1983 and 1984, deployed with the intent and effect to destroy, in part, a specific ethnic group, namely the minority Ndebele of Zimbabwe, thereby fulfilling every condition of the Genocide Convention principles of genocide.« (Source: State Crime Journal)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 1)
	The Most Efficient and Grave Way of Inflicting Injury and Harm (p. 2)
		Listening to the Survivors (p. 4)
		Operation Gukurahundi (p. 5)
		Targeting Ndebele Civilians-a Deliberate Military Strategy? (p. 7)
	Break[ing] the Bodies and Identities of the Community Through the Bodies of the Community (p. 8)
		Forced to Witness-an Omnipresent Pattern (p. 13)
	Rape and Sexual Violence Followed by Mass Killing(p. 15)
	Contravening the Norms of Sexuality: Forced Intrafamilial Rape and Bestiality (p. 15)
	Stripped of Their Clothes, Dignity and Autonomy-Forced Nudity (p. 17)
		Systematic Patterns of Reproductive Violence (p. 18)
		Bhalagwe Concentration Camp (p. 18)
	Conclusion (p. 25)
	Acknowledgements (p. 27)
	Notes (p. 27)
	References (p. 27)

Wikipedia: History of Africa: History of Zimbabwe | Genocide: Gukurahundi | Sex and the law: Rape / Genocidal rape