ABSTRACT

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Title of the Project: Human Rights violation during World War 2.

The Rape of Nanking:

Mass murder and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese
capture of the city of Nanking (Nanjing), the former capital of the Republic of China, on
December 13, 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During this period, hundreds of
thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered by soldiers of the Imperial
Japanese Army. Widespread rape and looting also occurred. Historians and witnesses have
estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people were killed.

The Holocaust:

Mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a program
of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party,
throughout the German Reich and German-occupied territories.

The Bataan Death March:

Approximately 75,000 Filipino and US soldiers, commanded by Major General Edward P.

King, Jr. formally surrendered to the Japanese, under General Masaharu Homma, on April 9,
1942, which forced Japan to accept emaciated captives outnumbering them. Captives were
forced to march, beginning the next day, about 100 kilometers north from Nueva Ecija to Camp
O'Donnell, a prison camp. Prisoners of war were beaten randomly and denied food and water
for several days. Those who fell behind were executed through various means: shot, beheaded
or bayoneted. Deaths estimated at 650-1,500 U.S. and 2,000 to over 5,000 Filipino.

Comfort Women/POW Camps:

Up to around 200,000 women were forced to work in Japanese military brothels.

There were more than 140,000 Allied prisoners in Japanese prisoner of war camps. Of these,
one in three died from starvation, work, punishments or from diseases for which there was no
medication available.

The predominant part of the work of repression was carried out by colonial troops (mostly from
Eritrea) of the Italians who, according to the Ethiopians, besides the bombs laced with mustard
gas, instituted forced labor camps, installed public gallows, killed hostages, and mutilated the
corpses of their enemies. Many Italian troops had themselves photographed next to cadavers
hanging from the gallows or standing with chests full of detached heads.

I will try to do a critical analysis of all these issues with the help of this project.

Sahil Mathur

Roll No. 2015103