Denver Journal of International Law & Policy Volume 22 Number 1 Fall Article 4 May 2020 Discriminating Genocide from War Crimes: Vietnam and Afghanistan Reexamined Helen Fein Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/djilp Recommended Citation Helen Fein, Discriminating Genocide from War Crimes: Vietnam and Afghanistan Reexamined, 22 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 29 (1993). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Journal of International Law & Policy by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Discriminating Genocide From War Crimes: Vietnam and Afghanistan Reexamined HELEN FEIN* Raphael Lemkin introduced the concept of genocide in 1942 as a way to understand the objective of Germany's policies toward the population of the occupied states.1 Historically, this term has been used "to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essen- tial foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilat- ing the groups themselves."2 Since 1944, the concept has frequently been misused rhetorically and metaphorically for political ends. For instance, segregation and integration, drug addiction and methadone-maintenance, free choice of abortion and enforced birth control, AIDS, and condom use each have been labelled as "genocide."' Despite the prevalence of geno- cide4 -and the importance of the concept as an international norm, no sat- isfactory method exists to distinguish putative cases from rhetorical mis- uses and specious claims.