A Crime Against Humanity

In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Nanking, China. They killed 300,00 out of the 600,000 people in China’s capital city. The six-week rampage by the Japanese is now known as the Rape of Nanking and the single worst atrocity during WWII era in either the European or Pacific theaters of the war.

In order to understand the magnitude of “crimes against humanity,” let’s first look into the ingredients of the whole recipe. At the most basic level, each human being has inalienable human rights. These rights are inherent, that by the virtue of being born and existing in the world as a human being you are entitled to them. These rights are universal, applicable at all times and in all places in the world. These inalienable human rights are egalitarian, meaning they are equal for every person. To reach a broad-spectrum agreement on the international scale, representatives from all over the world of different cultures and legal backgrounds came together in Paris on December 10th 1948 to draft The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR consists of 30 articles defining human rights, with article 1 beginning the series that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”1. These rights should be upheld and respected by all nations and peoples, not to be violated unless a direct implication with due process, and even then, should not violate unlawful imprisonment and/or execution. When the term “gross violations of human rights” is used, it is referring to the violation of any basic human right or the violation of human rights as a general term. These acts are isolated inhumane transgressions, most often referring to crimes committed by a single party against an individual.

World War II was a devastating war, whether you were directly in the war zone, or away from the battlefield, you were impacted greatly. Flyboys is a book written by James Bradley, in this book Bradley tells stories of World War II using first-hand accounts. In chapter five, Bradley discusses “The Rape of China” which was a battle that took place in 1937 during the beginning of World War II. In this battle, the Japanese fight the Chinese and destroy China. Both Japan and China had very different moral beliefs on fighting in the war. China believed that the soldiers needed to “be courteous,” and to also be “neither selfish nor unjust” to civilians (Bradley 54). Meanwhile, the Japanese had totally opposite policies known as the “Three Alls” meaning

Nanking was not the only place of Japanese Army atrocities. Nanking held the distinction of allowing foreigners to witness and survive the atrocities. I learned from the story that the Japanese Army would take drastic measures to eliminate a people, to systematically use every means available to eliminate your enemy, people that may not have been involved, people that got in your way and people you just took pleasure in killing. To even invite fellow military personnel who were not even involved to come and watch as if it is some side show. A sick pride in performing your duties.To knowingly kill people in many different possible ways, who are just scared and frightened, just to entertain yourself.

Humanitarian interference positions a hard trial for an international society constructed on the doctrines of sovereignty, intervention, and the use of force. Directly after the holocaust, the society of states recognized the laws prohibiting genocide, forbidding the exploitation of civilians, and identifying plain human rights. These humanitarian values often clash with doctrines of sovereignty. Sovereign states are required to perform as protectors of their citizens’ security, but what happens if states act as villains towards their own people, treating power as a pass to kill? Should dictatorial states be recognized as valid members of international society and permitted the protection afforded by the intervention norm? Or else, most states loss their sovereign rights and be exposed to reasonable intervention if they aggressively abuse or fail to protect their citizens? Connected to this, what responsibilities do other states or organizations have to enforce human rights standards against governments that vastly violate them?

The international community has the obligation of respecting the autonomy of sovereign states. Genocide has occurred all over the place a different time periods throughout history and throughout the world, whatever the case may be it is not right and this can be eliminated. Genocide has been occurring all over the world in different places and time periods. From, Iraq to Canada, and from America to Germany. Involving the United States Government, Christopher Columbus, and Hitler.

1. The Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, lasted six weeks. It started on December 13th, 1937, the day the Japanese invaded and captured Nanking, which is now the city of Nanjing. During this period, the Imperial Japanese Army killed civilians and injured Chinese soldier. There are no official death tolls but there is an estimate of 200 000 to 400 000 deaths. There were 20 000 to 80 000 women raped. Once one of China’s most modern and prosperous cities, the industrial city of Nanking took decades to recover from the devastation it experienced.

The Rape of Nanking was an event that occurred between Japan and China. The Japanese army invaded Japan on December 13, 1937. (Mills)This was after a few events occurred that angered Japan, including the Battle of Shanghai. In  “The Rape of Nanking” it states how Japan’s army, led by General Matsui Iwane, invaded China. The Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek wanted to keep fighting, and did not back down. After a few weeks, Prince Asaka took over and he said “kill all captives.” The soldiers took this seriously, which resulted in many deaths. This source comes from the Arizona Digital Library, a trusted and well-known online program. Thousands of Chinese citizens were killed, some sources say up to 300,000.

This has been described as the Asian Holocaust. The Japanese are responsible for killing about 14,000,000 people. That number of people do not include the "lucky ones" who survived and are suffering today. Prisoners of war experienced through massacre, human experimentation, starvation, and forced labor. Massacre or also known as Nanking Massacre, was a mass killing and rape. Human experimentation was using conducting deadly and extremely dangerous experiments on humans to use the results on the rest of China. Extreme famine lasted the entire war. Forced labor or slavery, was having the imprisoned Chinese do hard work, and if not done or well, they would be threatened with deadly consequences. A white girl, Mary Previte, living in China who was schooled there, her school was taken over and imprisoned. Japan's military decided to turn the school into a military headquarters. She explained how gross the living was there by saying "If there were too many rats, the teachers would set the children the task of catching them. It was the same for flies and bedbugs. There were small prizes for the winners" (Mary). Imprisonment was horrible and it brought down a race and leads to tension that will be carried through many

After Josip Broz Tito, the communist president of Yugoslavia, died in 1980, citizens of Yugoslavia took advantage of attempting to declare their independence (History of Bosnian Genocide). A man by the name of Slobodan Milosevic soon came into power and further fueled the tension within Yugoslavia. In 1992, Bosnia, following the footsteps of Croatia and Slovenia for independence, was home for different ethnic Muslim groups; with in the same year, Serbia declared war on Bosnia in hopes to claim the land as their own (History of Bosnian Genocide). By using military force and concentration camps, Serbia was attempting to eradicate this ethnic group using genocide. Just like the Holocausts, individual rights were being violated and they were being dehumanized. As a result and stated in our class text, the International Criminal Court (1998) was formed to holding state leaders accountable for human rights violations. Humanitarian intervention would have been permissible in this instance because, again, it would save people’s lives. “The violent dismemberment of Yugoslavia has added the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ to the global vocabulary (Denich).‘” Serbia was trying to completely erase the Bosnian ethnic

The Nanking, or known as Nanking Massacre or Rape of Nanking, started on December 13, 1937 and lasted for about six weeks. It all started out during the Sino-Japanese War when the Japanese won a gory victory in Shanghai in the summer of 1937. Their next stop was towards Nanking and General Matsui Iwane commanded his troop, made of 50,000 soldiers, to invade and destroy the city.

The Rape of Nanking was one of several atrocities committed by Japanese troops in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Throughout the eight years of war, Japanese troops utilized a number of war tactics, of which one was humiliating and dehumanizing residents of Nanking or Nanjing. Japanese troops headed toward Nanking on November 11, 1937, after they gained control over Shanghai, China. They wanted Chinese troops to surrender, instead of attacking them. Once they arrived to Nanking, Japanese troops gave them a chance to surrender, however Chinese troops did not. Consequently, Japanese troops started attacking the city; they burned down homes, raped, and looted residents of Nanking. They raped between 20,000 and 80,000 women and killed them afterwards. Some Japanese troops kept women alive so they could abuse them repeatedly. When troops went out and raped women, they spread terror and revealed what they were capable of doing. Women of all ages were abused and killed brutally. Some Japanese troops forced fathers to rape their own daughters, so they could display the civilians inferiority. As Japanese troops were raping innocent females of Nanking, they were gaining power over China.

In just six short weeks, the Chinese city of Nanjing was devastated with the brutal murdering of civilians ranging somewhere between 40,000 to 300,000 deaths, along with 20,000 to 80,000 of the cities woman being raped. These horrific statistics came to fruition after the Imperial Japanese Army forces abruptly entered the Chinese city of Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China at the time, on December 13, 1937. It is often debated as to how serious the massacre really was as both the death and rape tolls seems to have such large ranges. Although many may argue that the Rape of Nanjing was Japans attempt at world domination, others often disagree, proclaiming that the genocide was simply exaggerated and possibly even fabricated entirely. In many instances this “fabrication” was believed to be an attempt at political propaganda, but there are various supporting facts that prove otherwise. The massacre was in fact a real,

Seventy nine years ago an estimated of more than 300,000 men, women, and children were inhumanely controlled through the brute strength of an unannounced military raid. This led to the incomputable amount of monstrosities committed by man to fellow man. Leading up this dark moment in history was a major conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, which was sparked by the illustrious desire of natural resources by the Japanese government. From here the Japanese slowly encroached into the Chinese land taking everything they once loved, and eventually making it to the heart of China; Nanking. Throughout a short and brutal six week period the Japanese ravaged and destroyed the capital of Nanking, China as a part of the Second

Wellington Koo, the delegate of Republic of China put Nanking Massacre at the central evidence of his speech, depicting the miserable state of Chinese civilians to condemn Japan and to call for the aid of other countries. However his argument was not rewarded with the attention of other countries, which made him and the government to give up using Nanking Massacre as the example of Japanese atrocity.