Erasing identity through culture: Towards the formation of a legal framework for cultural genocide

The relevance of this study is due to the growing number of documented practices of destruction of cultural identity in the context of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine and the lack of a comprehensive legal conceptualisation of these practices within international criminal law. Despite active research into war crimes and crimes against humanity, the cultural dimension of violence is often considered secondary or auxiliary, which prevents a proper assessment of its systemic nature and legal significance. The aim of the article was to systematise established practices of influencing the cultural identity of the Ukrainian people and to justify the possibility of their legal interpretation within the framework of international criminal law as a comprehensive model of influence relevant for assessing specific intent. The study used formal legal, comparative legal and content analysis methods. The application of these methods made it possible to analyse international legal norms, judicial practice and documented facts of violations, as well as to structure the forms of influence on cultural identity into analytically independent categories. The main results of the study were the identification and systematisation of key forms of destruction of cultural identity, in particular interference in the linguistic sphere, education, religious life, traditions and customs, the activities of cultural institutions, material cultural heritage, as well as the intergenerational dimension of identity through influence on children. It is shown that these practices are not fragmentary, but interconnected and repetitive in nature, which allows them to be considered as elements of a coherent systemic policy. It has been proven that the combination of established actions, in particular the combination of cultural destruction and systematic violence, in the relevant ideological context, provides grounds for their assessment as legally significant indicators of specific intent derived from a pattern of behaviour. The practical value of the work lies in the possibility of using the results obtained in law enforcement activities, in documenting international crimes, as well as in scientific research devoted to the issues of genocide and the protection of cultural identity in the context of armed conflicts