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Chapter Five Chapter Five Genocide 1. Introduction Genocide is the deliberate destruction of a specific group of people and is generally seen as the ‘crime of all crimes’. History has witnessed many geno- cides which have cost many lives. The genocides of the Armenians in Turkey (1915), the Jews in Nazi Germany (1939–1945), the genocide by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (1975–1979) and of the Tutsis in Rwanda (1994) are among the most well-known and best documented, but they are certainly not the only ones. Genocide entails the denial of the right of existence of a certain group of people and occurs far too often. The perpetrators are usu- ally state functionaries who consider the targeted groups as a danger or as a group which does not fit in their scheme of a new and better world and thus needs to be destroyed. In the following sections we will define genocide (sec- tion 2), give a brief legal history of the concept (section 3), and describe the social context in which it is usually committed (section 4). We have chosen the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the Holocaust committed during the Sec- ond World War as illustrative case studies in section 5. 2. Definition Genocide can be defined as the deliberate destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group of people. The exact legal definition which can be found in art. 2 of the Genocide Convention is universally accepted. By its limited enumeration of groups (being either national, ethnic, racial or reli- gious) the definition excludes the deliberate destruction of other groups such as most notably social, economic and political groups. The deliberate destruc- tion of these groups consequently does not legally qualify as genocide. Next to many critical lawyers, virtually all social scientists agree that not includ- ing the intentional killing of political groups is an unjustifiable omission. From a sociological perspective genocide and the deliberate destruction of a political group are identical social phenomena. Several social science schol- ars have therefore come up with their own definitions of genocide, not only 160 Chapter Five in order to include other groups but also because they were in dire need of a definition which would be better suited for sociological research. Some other scholars have invented new concepts such as politicide, ethnocide and democide to supplement genocide as a concept. We will discuss these issues in more detail in the next section. 3. A Short History of the Development of the Concept of Genocide The term ‘genocide’ was introduced by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer, in 1944.1 For a long time in history genocide was – to use the words of Winston Churchill – ‘a crime without a name’. When Lemkin tried to raise attention to the crimes committed against the Armenians in Turkey and later against the Jews in Nazi Germany, he realized that there was no way (read: no ade- quate word) of distinguishing murder from mass murder. It thus seemed easier to get away with genocide than it was to get away with a single murder. This made Lemkin realize that such an extreme and atrocious crime required a name which would distinguish it from ordinary murder and emphasize its extraordinary nature. Lemkin derived the word ‘genocide’ from the Greek word genos, which means ‘people’, and the Latin suffix -cide, which means ‘killing’. The word ‘genocide’ was quickly accepted and in 1948, four years after the word was introduced, the Genocide Convention in which genocide was defined (and outlawed) was adopted.2 3.1 The prohibition of genocide: an absolute moral postulate The Genocide Convention, which was adopted on December 9, 1948 and entered into force on January 12, 1951, is the most important legal document concerning genocide.3 The Convention’s definition in art. II reads: Genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such: a. killing members of the group; b. causing serious bodily harm to members of the group; 1 Lemkin’s life story was described by Samantha Power in her book, A Problem from Hell (2002). See also the special issue of the Journal of Genocide Research (2005, vol. 7, nr. 4, 441– 578) which was focused on Raphael Lemkin with several articles on his views and life. 2 The full name of what is usually referred to as the Genocide Convention is the Convention on the Prevention and Suppression of the Crime of Genocide. 3 See for the status on ratification: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/ratification/1.htm..
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