Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Social Determinants Of Health And Genocide: Towards A Public Health Integrated Framework Of Genocide And Mass Violence, Sian Persad, Cheng Xu

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This paper makes a normative argument about transformations of public health as a necessary condition required in any transitional justice process. We seek to bridge the gap between the fields of genocide and public health to understand the recursive relationship between genocide and the social determinants of health. We show that structures and institutions established during genocide create enduring impacts on the public health outcomes of victim and survivor groups even after the ousting of the original perpetrators. Our comparative analysis of the Rwandan Genocide and the colonial genocide of Indigenous communities in Canada surveys the available public health literature …

Ongoing Genocides And The Need For Healing: The Cases Of Native And African Americans, Benjamin P. Bowser, Carl O. Word, Kate Shaw

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The elimination of Native peoples and the enslavement of Africans in the U.S. more than qualify as acts of historical state sponsored genocide. A feature of both genocides is that they ended as institutional practices but have continued culturally and psychologically. The primary contemporary legacy of these genocides is racism which reinforces historical trauma and grief. Suggestions are made for how healing for Native and African Americans can begin despite ongoing racism. This includes psychological counseling for White Americans with beliefs in White supremacy. Suggestions are also made for how reconciliation can begin at the county-level between descendants of slave …

Salutogenesis And The Prevention Of Social Death: Cross-Cultural Lessons From Genocide-Impacted Rwandans And Indigenous Youth In Canada, Jobb D. Arnold

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Combining trans-disciplinary theories with cross-cultural ethnographic research, this paper explores community-based approaches to genocide prevention among Canadian-Indigenous groups as well as with Rwandan student genocide survivors. A Salutogenic framework is used to examine community responses to the micro-foundations of genocide (Antonovsky 1987). These processes are explored using first-hand accounts from “New Family” networks of student genocide survivors in Rwanda and members of a Canadian urban-Indigenous “Village.” These perspectives shed light on how locally adaptive, socially networked practices can help promote emergent forms of genocide prevention (Williams 1977). This paper focuses on three areas of local practice that have helped build …

Cold Genocide: Falun Gong In China, Maria Cheung, Torsten Trey, David Matas, Richard An

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The article explores patterns of a cold genocide in the eradication campaign against Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that has been targeted for eradication by the Chinese regime since 1999. In comparison to the documented cases of genocide, the genocide of Falun Gong stands out as anomalous because it is virtually ignored. The article seeks to elucidate the multi-faceted nature of this concealed genocide from an interdisciplinary perspective encompassing social work, medicine and law, In particular, the article demonstrates that the eradication campaign against Falun Gong is distinguishable as a cold genocide as it is: (1) multi-dimensional …

Medicapt In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo: The Design, Development, And Deployment Of Mobile Technology To Document Forensic Evidence Of Sexual Violence, Karen Naimer, Widney Brown, Ranit Mishori

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This review essay provides an overview of the MediCapt app and the steps Physicians for Human Rights has taken to design, develop, and field-test the app in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also explores advocacy opportunities that the app’s emerging technology may facilitate down the road. This review essay also identifies the many challenges and questions that we have grappled with and lessons learned as we seek to deploy MediCapt in a low-resourced and politically unstable context and take it to scale beyond DRC. Finally, in sharing the details of this case study, we hope to emphasize both …

Documenting Mass Rape: Medical Evidence Collection Techniques As Humanitarian Technology, Jaimie Morse

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Aim: Emerging global networks of human rights activists, doctors, and nurses have advocated for increased collection of medical evidence in conflict-affected countries to corroborate allegations of sexual violence and facilitate prosecution in international and domestic courts. Such initiatives are part of broader shifts in human rights advocacy to document human rights violations using rigorous, standardized methodologies. In this paper, I consider three principal forms of medical evidence to document sexual violence and their use in these settings: the patient medical record, the medical certificate, and the sexual assault medical forensic exam (commonly known as the “rape kit”).

Methods: Combining archival …