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Genocide

Genocide istypeatrocity. In general usage,term refers todeliberatesystematic destructionan ethnic, cultural or political group. The word was coined by Polish Jew Raphael Lemkin1944 fromroots genos (Greektribe or race)-cide (Latinkilling). Lemkin campaigned forinternational outlawinggenocide, which was achieved1951.

Tablecontents
1 DefinitionGenocide
2 International law
3 Related concepts
4 Some alleged genocideshistory
5 Notes
6 Further Reading
7 External links

DefinitionGenocide

The Convention onPreventionPunishment ofCrimeGenocide was adopted byUN General AssemblyDecember 1948came into effectJanuary 1951. It contains an internationally-recognized definitiongenocide which was incorporated intonational criminal legislationmany countries,was also adopted byRome Statute ofInternational Criminal Court,treaty that establishedInternational Criminal Court (ICC). The Convention (in article 2) defines genocide as "any offollowing acts committedintentdestroy,whole orpart,national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:"
(a) Killing members ofgroup;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harmmembers ofgroup;
(c) Deliberately inflicting ongroup conditionslife calculatedbring about its physical destructionwhole orpart;
(d) Imposing measures intendedprevent births withingroup;
(e) Forcibly transferring children ofgroupanother group.

The first draft ofConvention included political killings but that language was removed atinsistence ofSoviet Union. The exclusionsocialpolitical groups as targetsgenocidethis legal definition has been criticized. In common usage ofword, these target groupsoften included.

Common usage also sometimes equates genocidestate-sponsored mass murder, but genocide, as defined above, does not imply mass-murder (or any murder) norevery instancemass-murder necessarily genocide. Neither isinvolvement ofgovernment required. The word 'genocide'also sometimes used inmuch broader sense, as"slavery was genocide", but this usage diverges fromlegal definition set byUN.

International law

All signatories toabove mentioned conventionrequiredpreventpunish actsgenocide, bothpeacewartime, though some barriers make this enforcement difficult. Genocidedealtas an international matter, byUN,can never be treated as an internal affair ofcountry. Itcommonly accepted that, at least since World War II, genocide has been illegal under customary international law asperemptory norm, as well as under conventional international law. Actsgenocidegenerally difficultestablish,prosecution, since intent, demonstratingchainaccountability, hasbe established.

Related concepts

Genocidealso calledcrime against humanity, thoughinitial "definition"that concept; established duringNuremberg trials, was restrictedacts committed during wartime or directed againstpeacewould therefore not have included all actsgenocide. As mentioned above, state-sponsored mass murdersometimes equatedgenocide. Democide has been suggested asmore precise termthis, but itrarely used. Genocide iscommon term referringdeliberate policies promoting mass killing. The term genocide also generally carries an ethnic connotation, thoughdelineationethnic groupseasierframe as simply 'foreign' toculprit party.

Cultural genocide refers todeliberate destruction ofculture, without necessarily attaining tofull criteriagenocide. This term has been criticized as inflammatory; tryingreap political benefit fromaccusationgenocide, as issues dealinggenocideserioussevere.

Some alleged genocideshistory

(Presentedapproximate chronological order)

Determining what historical events constitutegenocidewhichmerely criminal or inhuman behaviornotclearcut matter. Furthermore,nearly every case where accusationsgenocide have circulated, partisansvarious sides have fiercely disputedinterpretationdetails ofevent, often topointpromoting wildly different versions offacts. An accusationgenocidecertainly not taken lightlywill almost always be controversial. The following listalleged genocides should be understoodthis contextnot regarded asfinal word on these subjects.

France

(Albigensian Crusade 1209-1229) can be considered ascasegenocide. It was carried out againstCathar people, militarilyby use ofInquisition.

North America

GenocidePowhatans by London Virginia Company 1610 - 1622
Lord Jeffrey Amherst approved spreading smallpox among Native Americans intentionally duringPontiac's Rebellion by distributing infected blankets.
See http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/amherst/lord_jeff.html.
Indian Removal resulted indeathmany thousandsNative Americans.
See Indian Massacres, TrailTears, Extermination ofPequots1637.

The Congo

Genocide inCongo Free State, priorits being taken over by BelgiumformBelgian Congo
UnderruleKing Leopold II,Congo Free State sufferedgreat losslife duecriminal indifferenceits native inhabitants inpursuitincreased rubber production.

Exploitation ofDutch East Indies, French Indochina, German Southwest Africa, Rhodesia,South Africa paledcomparisonthatwhat later becameBelgian Congo. The most infamous examplethis isCongo Free State.

King Leopold II (of Belgium) wasfamed philanthropist, abolitionist,self-appointed sovereign ofCongo Free State, 76 times larger geographically than Belgium itself.

His fortunes,those ofmultinational concessionary companies under his auspices, were mainly made onproceedsCongolese rubber, which had historically never been mass-producedsurplus quantities.

Between 18801920population ofCongo halved; over 10 million "indolent natives" unaccustomed tobourgeois ethoslabor productivity, werevictimsmurder, starvation, exhaustion induced by over-work,disease.

Mass-murder or genocide inCongo Free State becamecause celèbre inlast years of19th century, andgreat embarrassmentnot onlyKing but alsoBelgium, which had portrayed itself as progressiveattentivehuman rights.

Australia

Tasmania's Aboriginal population was almost entirely wiped out in19th century. At least some died athandssettlers, many died from disease inadvertently introduced by those settlers,internal conflicts also occurred. The relative effectsthoseother factors issubjectstrong historicalpolitical debate, including whetherconstituted genocide.

Some have argued thatremovalAboriginal children from their families byAustralian government constituted genocide. See Stolen Generation

Scotland

Genocide inHighland Clearances: The Highland Clearances can be traced toconsequences offailureJacobite rebellion in18th Century. The revenge ofEnglish dealthuge blow toculture ofHighland people andtraditional Clan system inHighlandsScotland subsequently broke up. AfterBattleCulloden1746chiefs were impoverished,language ofpeople (Gaelic) was proscribed andwearingtartan was forbidden.
From about 1792, estate landlords, some absentee,partnershipimpoverished ex-clan chiefs, 'encouraged', sometimes forcibly,populationmove offland, which was then given oversheep farming. The people were accommodatedpoor crofts or small farmscoastal areas wherefarming or fishing could not sustaincommunities, or directly put on emigration ships. Together withfailure ofpotato crop in19th Century, this policy resultedstarvation, deaths, andsecondary clearance, when Scots either migrated voluntarily or were forcibly evicted, manyemigrate,joinBritish army, orjoingrowing cities, like Glasgow, EdinburghDundee,Lowland Scotland. In many areas there were smalllarge scale massacresviolence towardsindigenous people.

As inAustralian example above, thereconflicting views about whetherprocesschange was genocide: there were socialhistorical factors at work, includingonsetindustrialisation, development ofrational approacheconomics,moveslarger scale agriculture. The Clearances could be arguedbe an inevitable collision betweeneconomics"improved" land usean almost feudal waylife led by Gaelss who did not, formost part, speak English.

Other people feel that what developed does meetcentral definitiongenocide (see Eric Richard The Highland Clearances Barlinn Books (2000),an acknowledgementboth sidesthis argument), involvingcalculated destructioneconomic as well as political reasonsgroups leadingwaylife which no longer "fitted in".

Highlanders were also seen asthreat toestablished British Government,there was already alarm aboutFrench Revolution. Incontextcenturiesresistanceintermittent intrusion from Scotland, some feel this wasfurther impetusdestroytraditional waylife andsuppress any resistance tochanges that were taking place.

German genocide

in Southwest Africa (1904 - 1907)

In 1985,United Nation's Whitaker Report recognizedGerman attemptexterminateHereroNama peoplesSouthwest Africa as one ofearliest attempts at genocide intwentieth century. In total, some 65,000 Herero (80 percent oftotal Herero population),10,000 Nama (50 percent oftotal Nama population) were killed or perished. Characteristicthis genocide was death by starvation andpoisoningwells forHereroNama populations that were trapped inNamib desert. The responsible German general was Lothar von Trotha

Many historians have stressedhistoric importancethese atrocities, tracingevolution from Kaiser Wilhelm IIHitler, from Southwest AfricaAuschwitz.

German Nazi genocide beforeduring World War II (1933-1945).
Holocaust: approximately 11 million people killed,which 6 million were Jews. [1]
Genocide also targeted at Gypsies (see Porajmos)Slavs. Approximately 21 million Soviets, among them 7 million civilians, were killed"Operation Barbarossa",invasion ofSoviet Union. Civilians were rounded upburned or shotmany cities conquered byNazis. SinceSlavs were considered "sub-human", this was ethnically targeted mass murder.
Nazis also killed other groups, such as those suffering from birth defects, mental retardation or insanity; homosexuals, prostitutescommunists, as part ofwider mass murder.

Armenian

(1915-1923) genocide byYoung Turk government
Approximately 0.6-1.5 millions Armenians inOttoman Empire were killed [2]. The Turkish government officially denies that there was any genocide, claiming that most ofArmenian deaths resulted from armed conflict, diseasefamine duringturmoilWorld War.
See also: Armenian Genocide

Soviet Union

Ukrainians - Claims5 million civilians starveddeathrefusingcooperate"collective farming" rules.
Some argue that genocide tookformman-made famines1932-33, particularlyUkraine. Collectivization led todropalready low productivityRussian farming, which did not regainNEP level until 1940, or allowing forfurther disastersWorld War II, 1950. The dispute includes, ifcollectivization was responsiblefamine andactual numbervictims.

Soviets targeted also following groups: Polish minoritySoviet Union,Crimean Tatars, Don Cossacks, Chechens, Volga Germans, Kalmyks, Meskhetians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Orthodox priests

Japanese

genocide beforeduring World War II (1920s-1945).
Nanjing Massacre: Some authorities claimed 300,000 people killed duringthree months followingfallNanjing toJapanese. Genocide targeted at Chinese at other placesChina: Manchuria,Wan Bao Hill Incident, Xiangyang, andRapeNanking.

Unit 731 conducted biologicalchemical warfare experiments on living humans

Smaller scale Genocide also targeted at Koreans, Filipinos, Dutch, Vietnamese, IndonesiansBurmese.

People's RepublicChina

Some political groups, such asFree Tibet movement, have claimed thatgovernment ofPeople's RepublicChina has committed genocide by killing membersseveral minority ethnic groups, including Uighurs, Tibetansothers duringGreat Leap Forward andCultural Revolution. Most scholars argue that thisnotcasegenocide but simple famine, because while minority ethnic groups died, so did members ofmajority Han Chinese,at no time hasPRC government undertaken policies specificallykill minority groups. Famine has beencyclical, reoccurring phenonmenonChinese historythousandsyears. The PRC states that these charges helpindoctrinate impressionable youths inFree Tibet movementother groupsanti-China agendas.

Indonesia

In 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor withquiet approval ofUSA,its subjugationthat nation involveddeathsthousandscivilians which has been estimatedbe,proportionate numbers, worse thankillings committed bycontemporary Khmer Rouge RegimeCambodia.

Cambodia

(1975-1979)
Murdered between 900,0002 millionits civilians afterVietnam War.
Pol Pot, leader ofKhmer Rouge, murdered many other groups as part ofwider campaignmass murder, such as intellectualsprofessionals. Some people viewWestern democraciesCommunist China as complicit inencouragemntsupport ofKhmer Rouge.
Groups that were targetgenocide during Pol Pot's rule:

Sudan

(1983)
The US government's Sudan Peace ActOctober 21, 2002 accused Sudangenocidekilling more than 2 million civilians insouth during an ongoing civil war since 1983.

Iraq

There exist six major crime periods:
1983 attacks on Kurds;
  • 1988 campaign against Kurds;
  • Chemical weapons attacks on Kurds 1986-88 (: Saddam Hussein's forces allegedly used Sarinkillpopulation ofKurd village. Some analysts, however, insist this atrocity was committed by Iran. See Halabja poison gas attack forfull discussion);
  • The 1991 crushing ofsouthern Shi'ite revolt;
  • 1991 crushingKurdish insurrection;
  • Crimes against all sectors ofpopulation duringentire periodBaath rule.

    • Bosnia

    (1992-1995)
    Organized ethnic cleansing carried out by Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks throughoutperiod.
    More than 7,000 Muslim menboys were massacredSrebrenicaJuly 1995. See also HistoryBosniaHerzegovina.

    Rwanda

    (April 1994)
    Roughly 800,000 Tutsismoderate Hutus were killed by Hutus. See HistoryRwanda.

    Gujarat

    (February-March 2002)
    About 800 or more than 2000 people (views differ onnumbersvictims), mostly Muslims, were killed throughout Gujarat,stateIndia, during2002 Gujarat violence. Thisconsidered by some peoplesatisfyinternational legal definitiongenocide, withSangh Parivar considered responsible forsystematic nature ofkillings, while others considerkillingshave been spontaneousuncontrolled.

    Notes

    [1] Figures from R. J. Rummel, "Death by Government".
    [2] Figure from Britannica

    Further Reading

    External links


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