Genocide

Raphael Lemkin, Photograph 6 (cropped)

După trecerea unui convoi între Birzula și Grozdovca

Auschwitz Resistance 280 cropped.jpg

"Trail of the hide hunters." Buffalo lying dead in snow, 1872 - NARA - 520094

Rwandan Genocide Murambi skulls

Ambassador Morgenthau's Story p314.jpg

Genocide

Genocide is the intentional action to destroy a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. The term was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, who combined the Greek word genos (race, people) with the Latin -cide (act of killing).

Definition

The legal definition of genocide is found in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and came into effect on 12 January 1951. According to Article II of the CPPCG, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such:

• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Historical Examples

Throughout history, there have been numerous instances of genocide. Some of the most notable include:

• The Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire.
• The Holocaust (1941-1945) during World War II, where six million Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany.
• The Rwandan Genocide (1994), where an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by extremist Hutus.

Legal Proceedings

Genocide is considered a crime under international law, and individuals can be prosecuted for committing genocide by international courts such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The Nuremberg Trials were among the first to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity, including genocide.

Prevention and Response

Preventing genocide involves a combination of early warning systems, diplomatic measures, and, in some cases, military intervention. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a global political commitment endorsed by all member states of the United Nations to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

Controversies

The classification of certain historical events as genocide can be controversial. For example, the Holodomor in Ukraine and the treatment of Native Americans in the United States are subjects of ongoing debate among historians and legal scholars.

See Also

• Crimes against humanity
• Ethnic cleansing
• War crimes
• Human rights
• International law