Denver Journal of International Law & Policy Volume 21 Number 1 Fall Article 4 May 2020 A Unified Concept of opulationP Transfer Christopher M. Goebel Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/djilp Recommended Citation Christopher M. Goebel, A Unified Concept of Population Transfer, 21 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 29 (1992). 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]. A Unified Concept of Population Transfer CHRISTOPHER M. GOEBEL* Population transfer is an issue arising often in areas of ethnic ten- sion, from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Western Sahara, Tibet, Cyprus, and beyond. There are two forms of human population transfer: removals and settlements. Generally, commentators in interna- tional law have yet to discuss the two together as a single category of population transfer. In discussing the prospects for such a broad treat- ment, this article is a first to compare and contrast international law's application to removals and settlements. I. INTRODUCTION International attention is focusing on uprooted people, especially where there are tensions of ethnic proportions. The Red Cross spent a significant proportion of its budget aiding what it called "displaced peo- ple," removed en masse from their abodes. Ethnic cleansing, a term used by the Serbs, was a process of population transfer aimed at removing the non-Serbian population from large areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina.2 The large-scale Jewish settlements into the Israeli-occupied Arab territories continue to receive publicity.