Genocide
Religious Studies: KS3, topic 1.2.33
Genocide
Genocide is defined as the mass extermination of a particular group of people.
What is genocide?
- The efforts of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish population in the 1940s was an example of genocide.
- Even though the definition is relatively simple, it is difficult to add genocide to law.
Definition and debate
- The term genocide was coined in 1943 by the Jewish-Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who combined the Greek word "genos" (race or tribe) with the Latin word "cide" (to kill).
- His efforts led to the adoption of the United Nations Genocide Convention in December 1948, which came into effect in January 1951.
- The convention imposes a general duty on states that are signatories to "prevent and to punish" genocide.
Article Two
- Article Two of the convention defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy... a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such":
- Killing members of the group
- Causing bodily or mental harm
- Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the group
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Test yourself on Genocide
Who coined the term 'genocide'?
When did the United Nations Genocide Convention come into effect?