Genocide

Organization or Publication

Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress

New conceptions require new terms. By ‘genocide’ we mean the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group. This new word, coined by the author to denote an old practice in its modern development, is made from the ancient Greek word genos (race, tribe) and the Latin cide (killing), thus corresponding in its formation to such words as tyrannicide, homicide, infanticide, etc. Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups. Genocide is directed against the national group as an entity, and the actions involved are directed against individuals, not in their individual capacity, but as members of the national group. (p. 79)

Individual Author(s): Lemkin, Rafael

DOI / ISBN / Link: OCLC: (OCoLC)ocm00786521

Source Type: Book

Country: USA / Poland

Year: 1944

Tags: Scholarly | Nonprofit

Find it at UCLA: https://search.library.ucla.edu/permalink/01UCS_LAL/17p22dp/alma9996728301006533

Facing History and Ourselves

To commit genocide is to act with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Coined as a moral and legal concept and codified as an international crime in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, genocide is among the most heinous offenses that a government, military, or other organized group can commit.

Since the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was ratified by the United Nations Security Council in 1948, genocide and similar atrocities against civilians (such as war crimes and ethnic cleansing) have continued to take place. In the last decade alone, attacks on groups such as the Rohingya in Myanmar, Uyghurs in China, and Armenians in Azerbaijan have been labeled by some human rights groups and governments as genocide.

Since 2022, charges of genocide and genocidal intent have arisen from conflicts that are regularly front-page news and trending stories online, for example, against the state of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, against Hamas after its October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, and against the state of Israel after its invasion of Gaza. The legal bar for establishing genocidal intent is difficult to meet, and establishing international consensus about whether genocide is taking place has proven difficult.

Individual Author(s):

Source Title: “What Is Genocide?”

DOI / ISBN / Link: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/what-genocide

Source Type: Web article

Country: USA

Year: 2024

Tags: Educational | Advocacy | Nonprofit

Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions

Genocide in the generic sense means the mass killing of substantial numbers of human beings, when not in the course of military action against the military forces of an avowed enemy, under conditions of the essential defenselessness of the victim. (p. 76)

Individual Author(s): Charny, Israel W.

Source Title: “Toward a generic definition of genocide”

DOI / ISBN / Link: ISBN 978-0812216165

Source Type: Book Chapter

Country: USA

Year: 1997

Tags: Scholarly

Find it at UCLA: https://search.library.ucla.edu/permalink/01UCS_LAL/192ecse/cdi_nii_cinii_1130282270291906048

Genocide Studies and Prevention

Genocide can be defined as a complex process of systematic persecution and annihilation of a group of people by a government. In the twentieth century, approximately 40 to 60 million defenseless people became victims of deliberate genocidal policies. The twenty-first century did not begin much better, with genocidal episodes going on in Darfur and the Congo. We can speak of genocide when individuals are persecuted and murdered merely on the basis of their presumed or imputed membership in a group rather than on their individual characteristics or participation in certain acts. Although it makes little sense to define genocide by a specific number of victims affected by it, we can state that a genocidal process always concerns a society at large and that genocide destroys a significant and often critical part of the affected community. It can be argued that genocidal processes are particularly malicious and destructive because they are directed against all members of a group, most often against innocent and defenseless people who are persecuted and killed regardless of their behaviour. Genocide always denotes a colossal and brutal collective criminality. For this reason, genocide has been studied as a modern phenomenon that is distinct from other forms of mass violence. (p. 32)

Individual Author(s): Üngör, Uğur Ümit

Source Title: “Team America: Genocide Prevention?”

DOI / ISBN / Link: https://doi.org/10.3138/gsp.6.1.32

Source Type: Journal article

Country: Netherlands / Turkey

Year: 2011

Tags: Scholarly

Find it at UCLA: https://search.library.ucla.edu/permalink/01UCS_LAL/192ecse/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_925713548

Merriam-Webster

The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group

DOI / ISBN / Link: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genocide

Source Type: Reference

Country: USA

Tags: Educational

Pioneers in Genocide Studies

[W]ithout constructing a dictionary definition, there are five elements that I find necessary to identify a specific atrocity as genocide: the commissioning party is the state, or any institution acting as the instrument of the state, proceeding in the avowed interest of the state; the objects of the policy, the victims, are civilians incapable of mounting an organized defense of their lives, families, and properties; the atrocity is on a scale such as to indicate a scheme by its architects for the wholesale extermination of a sizable segment of a population, if not an entire people, defined or self-defined as a distinct social community; that the objective is a permanent alteration of the demographic characteristics and composition of a defined geographic space; and that all of the above occur or are implemented over, historically-speaking, a short period of time. (p. 11)

Individual Author(s): Adalian, Rouben Paul

Source Title: “Finding the Words”

DOI / ISBN / Link: ISBN 978-1-4128-0957-3

Source Type: Book chapter

Country: USA

Year: 2002

Tags: Scholarly

Find it at UCLA: https://search.library.ucla.edu/permalink/01UCS_LAL/192ecse/cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9781351499637

United Nations

In the present Convention, 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:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Source Title: Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

DOI / ISBN / Link: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-prevention-and-punishment-crime-genocide

Source Type: Legal statute

Country: International

Year: 1948

Tags: Governmental

US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)

“Genocide” is an internationally recognized crime. The term has a specific legal definition. It refers to certain acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. // The word “genocide” was created by the Polish-Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin. He coined it to help describe early 20th century attempts to destroy entire nations and ethnic groups, including the Holocaust. // The chief prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal (1945–1946) used the term “genocide” in their indictment of Nazi leaders, but “genocide” was not recognized as an international crime until 1948. // Since 1948, the term “genocide” has often been used. However, “genocide” according to the legal definition—which includes an intent to destroy a targeted group—is rarely committed compared to other serious crimes, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Link / DOI / ISBN: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/what-is-genocide

Source Type: Reference

Tags: Educational | Governmental

Country: USA

Year: 2024

What Is Genocide?

1. Genocide

A form of violent social conflict or war between armed power organizations that aim to destroy civilian social groups, and those groups and other actors who resist this destruction.

2. Genocidal action

Action in which armed power organizations treat civilian social groups as enemies and aim to destroy their real or putative social power by means of killing, violence and coercion against individuals whom they regard as members of the groups.

3. A genocide

A large-scale episode, involving a substantial number of victims.

4. Genocidal violence

Limited or localized genocidal conflict, on too small a scale or with too few victims to be regarded as a genocide.

Notes: The difference between ‘genocide’ and ‘genocidal violence’ is a matter of descriptive and analytical convenience; it cannot therefore be given strict numerical parameters. ‘Victims’ means casualties of all forms of violence and coercion, not simply deaths. (p. 154)

Individual Author(s): Shaw, Martin

DOI / ISBN / Link: ISBN 978-0745631837

Source Type: Book

Country: UK

Year: 2015

Tags: Scholarly

Find it at UCLA: https://search.library.ucla.edu/permalink/01UCS_LAL/17p22dp/alma9956675193606533

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Genocide

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