Ethnic cleansing

The term ethnic cleansing refers to various policies of forcibly removing people of one

Ethnic cleansing as international law crime

Ethnic cleansing is designated a crime against humanity in international treaties, such as that which created the International Criminal Court (ICC). The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was set up in a similar spirit, and prosecutes these crimes under more generic names.

Related Topics:
Crime against humanity - International Criminal Court - International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The United Nations' General Assembly condemns "ethnic cleansing" and racial hatred in a 1992 resolution http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/47/a47r080.htm.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The emergence of ethnic cleansing as a distinct category of war crime has been a somewhat complex process. Each individual element of a programme of ethnic cleansing could be considered as an individual violation of humanitarian law - a killing here, a house-burning there - thus missing the systematic way in which such violations were perpetrated with a single aim in mind. International courts therefore consider individual incidents in the light of a possible pattern of ethnic cleansing. In the Yugoslav case, for instance, the ICTY considers the widespread massacres and abuses of human rights in Bosnia and Kosovo as part of an overall "joint criminal enterprise" to carve out ethnically pure states in the region.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

However, many alleged "ethnic cleansings" in the past do not fit the modern definition of "crimes against humanity." For example, the post-WW2 German expulsions were sanctioned by the international agreement at Potsdam conference, requiring that the actions proceed humanely.

Related Topics:
German expulsions - Potsdam conference

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~