Alex Ehalt
Mrs. Boring
Honors English 10, Pd. 5
22 April 2016
Genocide:
Genocide is one of the worst crimes against humanity and it still continues today. The definition of the word genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Compared with war crimes and crimes against humanity, genocide is generally regarded as the most offensive crime. Unlike war, where the attack is general and the object is often the control of a geographical or political region. Genocide attacks go after an individual’s identity and the object is control, or complete elimination, of a group of people. The history of genocide in the 20th century includes the 1915 genocide of Armenians by
…show more content…
Their population today is around 7,000,000 people who are mostly Buddhists. At the center of the ancient kingdom of Khmer is its capital city, Angkor. In 1953, all of the power was handed to Prince Sihanouk but he was overthrown by his own Lieutenant-General Lon Nol in 1970. Lon Nol was made president of the new Khmer Republic and Prince Sihanouk and all of his followers joined forces with a communist guerrilla group known as the Khmer Rouge soon after the civil war started. The actions of the Khmer Rouge which was actually “genocide” began shortly after they got power from Lon Nol in 1975. The article on the Cambodian Genocide also says the genocide lasted until the Khmer Rouge got overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1978. The genocide itself self-destructed from a harsh climate of political and social turmoil. The atmosphere of the general unrest in Cambodia arose during the French decolonization of Southeast Asia in the early 1950s and continued to devastate the region until the late 1980s. Under Prince Sihanouk, Cambodia had remained neutral during the war by giving support to both sides. The Viet Cang was allowed to use the ports and the U.S. was allowed to bomb Viet Cong hideouts in Cambodia. The allowed U.S. troops to roam freely in and out of Cambodia while battling with the Viet Cang. For the Next four years American led B-52 bomb attacks to destroy suspected North Vietnamese forces. Around 156,000 Cambodians died
Vietnam eventually overthrew the Khmer Rouge and effectively installed a socialist regime consisting of Khmer Rouge defectors. Most members of the Khmer Rouge escaped and fled to Thailand to receive assistance from the western countries. The Soviet Union would end up fighting the Khmer Rouge with help from China and Vietnam for over a decade. Due to economic sanctions that the U.S. placed on Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge had to withdraw their troops and leave. Afterward, a peace agreement was signed and a coalition government was formed and former monarch, Prince Sihanouk, was elected to run. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge until 1997, when he was placed under house arrest until he died of natural causes without any charges being pressed against him (“The Cambodian Genocide”). The Khmer Rouge lasted until 1999, when most of it’s members died off or been arrested (“The Cambodian Genocide). After the genocide, the world was silent and refused to talk about it. Craig Etcheson, a Cambodia expert from George Mason University, felt that “For many years, their was a virtual taboo on even speaking of the Khmer Rouge, as if their words were … a malevolent spirit lurking in the corner of every room (Hume and Coren). Most of the Cambodian citizens were too afraid to speak up because they did not want to relive the horrors of what occurred. In essence, the Cambodian genocide was one of many genocides throughout history that share similarities with other
Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people based on race, religion, or ethnicity. Genocides happen worldwide and it can occur between countries, nations, and civilizations against one another. There are eight stages in all that have proven to annihilate a whole population. Genocides can range from thousands being imprisoned, tortured, and the end result being death. The leaders or cause of the genocide can simply be on physical appearance, religion, race, inferiority, and ethnicity. There are many genocides that have happened, happening and in the process of beginning. After World War II, Eastern Asia had been thoroughly impacted by genocide.
“Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation” (Merriam Webster, Incorporated, 2013). Today the term varies, as different aspects of harm are included, ranging from murder, to serious mental harm.Genocide was first declared an international crime by the United Nations General Assembly in 1942. Genocides have occurred across the world, and share many common factors. Throughout the 19th century mass murder and rape swept across the world, many of which sharing common influences. The most infamous mass killing, the Holocaust is known around the world, however many fail to acknowledge similar tragedies throughout world history. Both the Rwandan Genocide and the Holocaust
The Armenian Genocide Ronald Reagan, once said, like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it, the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. The ethic group the Ottoman Empire was deporting and killing were Christians. They were forced from their homes and into deportation and massacres from 1915 to 1918, one of the most brutal and traumatizing genocide that we have knowledge of. The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century, after World War 1. It occurred when two million Armenians were living in the Ottoman Empire. For three thousand years, an
Within the definition of genocide there are two major portions: the mental and the physical elements. The mental element is all about the “Intent to destroy” part or all of a “group” (national, ethnical, racial, religious) whereas the physical element is the
In the past 150 years, tens of millions of men, women and children have lost their lives to ethnic cleansing or genocide. Although the definition is often scrutinized, according to Merriam Webster, "Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group". The most notable event associated with the term is the Holocaust. Stated by Judah Gribets, Edward Greenstein and Regina Stein, "nearly six million Jews fell victim to genocide during the years of the Holocaust". Of This number, one million were children who were unable to take care of themselves. People's hopes and dreams for the future were stripped from them, and many families were ripped apart. Many of these people were tortured or raped
Throughout history terrible actions and commands were executed, some of these acts were genocides. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a certain people according to their ethnic, racial or religious groups. Genocides have occurred within different areas of the world and at different periods of time. Most genocides have a different history behind it and are executed differently. Armenia and Bosnia are two areas of the world in which a genocide has taken place.
The most deadly example of genocide, a type of ethnic conflict, in human history was the Holocaust, which took place in Nazi Germany and surrounding nations from 1941 to 1945 (O’Shaughnessy 2009) . The Holocaust was ordered by Hitler to exterminate the Jewish people living in and around Germany, leading to the death of at least 6 million Jews as well as many other undesirables and potential political rivals (Kallis 2005). Hitler wished to target the Jews because he saw them as an easy scapegoat for why the German economy was failing and because he believed in a conspiracy theory concerning the rise of communism led by the Jews that threatened to overpower Europe and destroy Germany (Herf 2006). In order for Hitler 's plans to succeed, he had to manipulate the German people to a point where they would at least turn a blind eye to the disappearances of Jews even if they did not outright support the genocide. Hitler achieved this goal by crafting a narrative in which the Jews were the behind the scenes causing the war and the economic sufferings of Germany, which he then spread through his massive propaganda machine of Nazi Party owned newspapers and printing presses (O’Shaughnessy 2009).
The crime of genocide is one of the most devastating human tragedies throughout the history. And the word genocide refers to an organised destruction to a specific group of people who belongs to the same culture, ethnic, racial, religious, or national group often in a war situation. Similar to mass killing, where anyone who is related to the particular group regardless their age, gender and ethnic background becomes the killing targets, genocide involves in more depth towards destroying people’s identity and it usually consists a fine thorough plan prearranged in order to demolish the unwanted group due to political reasons mostly. While the term genocide had only been created recently in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal
Various explanations and descriptions of genocide exist. “Genocide is foremost an international crime for which individuals, no matter how high in authority, may be indicted, tried, and punished by the international criminal court” (Rummel). In general, it is considered genocide when the following are committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part a group: Killing members of a group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to
The "intent to destroy" certain groups is unique to the characterisation of genocide. Closely related categories of international law "crimes touching humanity" aredescribed as adverse or calculated attacks against citizens.This timeline marks the growth of the term "genocide" and its systematization into international law.
Genocide is a term that can be defined as a planned and systematic destruction of whole or parts of certain national, religious, race, ethnic, cultural or political group (Akhavan 21). Genocide is deliberated with a different set of actions for a purpose to destroy an essential foundation of life. Genocide is characterized with the massive killing of members of a group, causing mental or bodily injuries to a group of people, imposing mechanisms to prevent birth, removing particular group children and putting conditions of life in order to bring to an end existence of a particular group. Therefore, genocide is an illegal action and a crime recognized and punishable by international law (Charmy 35). For instance, Rwanda genocide is characterized by ethnic tensions within the country. Initially the definition of the term genocide as by genocide convection only comprised of racial, ethnic, national and religious groups. They argued that inclusion of other groups cannot strengthen but rather weakens it. This definition failed to recognize other groups such as political groups, economic and cultural groups that are essential elements of genocide. Genocide therefore, is generally considered the worst moral crime the ruling authority can commit against those it controls Naimark (2017).
Steven Pinker implied that, “As long as your ideology identifies the main source of the world's ills as a definable group, it opens the world up to the mass murder of people” (1). Steven Pinker revealed an interesting side to the controversial topic of mass murders and the causes of them. He revealed that as long as people in this world believe that they are better than other due to their race, religion, and everything else that defines a group of people as different from another group of people. People are and have been wrongfully treated differently due to the incompetence of some to realize that everyone is equal. They often believe that they were superior to others because of their physical attributes and beliefs that they had. The Holocaust is a major example of the ignorance of some in history. This ignorance often resulted in the murders and mistreatment of many. Elie Wiesel was one of the six million plus people who were wrongfully mistreated during the Holocaust. Many believe that this sort of event could not occur in the current time period because people have become more civilized and tolerable to the differences of others, but sadly the world is not ready to contain a social utopia. The mass murder, and violence that is occurring in Darfur is one of the many things that shows that the world is far from achieving this social utopia. Throughout history, many occurrences of genocide have occurred due to the diversity of people and even though society has evolved
Genocide is one of the evillest moral crimes any ruling authority such as a government can commit against its people and it happens more than we think. A general definition of Genocide is the intention to destroy or murder people because of their race, beliefs, or even political and economic status. As we have been taught in this course Raphael Lemkin, created the term ‘Genocide’ 1944. Lemkin combined the ancient Greek word ‘genos’ which means race and the Latin word ‘cide’ which translates to killing. There are many examples of genocide in the world but the most recognizable is that of the Holocaust and how the German powers that be sought and attempted to kill all Jews. A recent example is the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 where the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana caused a violent reaction resulting in mass killings. In efforts to reduce Genocide, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNCG) was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and was placed in force in 1951. On July 1, 2002 the International Criminal Court (ICC) came into force. The ICC not only accepted the UNCG’s definition of Genocide but expanded it to include crimes against humanity such as enslavement, deportation, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and apartheid. There have been many organizations created throughout the world to defend and prevent genocide and even communities, religions and even colleges are forming organizations and these are just some examples of how
On April 7th, 1994 in the small East African country of Rwanda the darkest and most brutal tragedy occurred, the Rwandan genocide. 800,000 Tutsi’s and Rwandan men and women were grossly slaughtered by the Hutu government. This was one of the worst genocides in history and yet not many people spoke about it, why? I believe many people did not say anything is because they were scared that they would be caught and then killed. A man by the name of Philippe Gaillard was a part of the Red Cross international committee in Kigali. He was one of the few people who spoke up about the tragedies occurring in Rwanda. He told his friend who was a news reporter for the BBC in France and published his story. By Gaillard not “shutting up” about the situation it made the Hutu extremists embarrassed and this lead to the Hutu government allowing the Red Cross committee to have safe passage throughout Rwanda. “America, the beautiful America, the brave”, was what America was known for being, but after the ethnic cleansing of the Rwandan people it changed.