Ethnic cleansing

In an ethnic cleansing, one ethnic or religious group forces another to leave an area. The goal of an ethnic cleansing is to remove a specific group of people from a certain geographical area.

Methods of ethnic cleansing include forcing people to move; deporting people; threatening them until they leave; rape; and mass murder.

Definitions

What is it?

The United Nations defines ethnic cleansing this way:

  • It is done on purpose, as part of a plan
  • It is done by one ethnic or religious group
  • That group wants to be the only group that lives in a certain area
  • The group uses violence, conflict and terror to force other ethnic or religious groups to leave that area

Methods

Throughout history, methods of ethnic cleansing have included:

Genocide vs. ethnic cleansing

Also see: Genocide

Genocide is a form of ethnic cleansing. In a genocide, one group or country attempts to destroy a different national, racial, ethnic, or religious group - either partially, or completely. For example, during the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany tried to kill every Jew in Europe. This was both a genocide and an ethnic cleansing.

However, not every ethnic cleansing is a genocide. In an ethnic cleansing, one group is trying to make the second group leave a specific area. For example, in 1492, Spain ordered its Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave, and at least 40,000 fled. This was an ethnic cleansing, because Spain was trying to make all Jews leave the country. However, because Spain was not also trying to destroy the Jews as a group, this was not a genocide (based on the definitions in international laws).

International law

Also see: International Criminal Court

International law does not recognize ethnic cleansing as a specific crime. In fact, there is no agreed-upon definition of "ethnic cleansing" in the law.

However, there are international laws against genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Acts of ethnic cleansing often qualify as one of these crimes (and some qualify as all three). Ethnic cleansing often involves murdering, raping, deporting, and/or persecuting large groups of people; these are all crimes against humanity under the International Criminal Court's laws.

In 2009, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) agreed that deporting a population from its home is a crime against humanity.

Examples of ethnic cleansing

Jews in ancient and medieval history

Also see: Pogroms and antisemitism

During ancient and medieval history, Jewish people in many countries were victims of ethnic cleansing. For example, around 1290 AD, King Edward I ordered all of the Jews in England to leave the country. Hundreds of elderly Jews were executed. Next, France and some German states did the same.

Then, in 1492, Spain ordered its Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave the country. It threatened to execute any Jew who stayed in Spain, without giving them a trial first. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Jews were forced to leave Spain.

Ten years later, in 1502, Spain also forced its Muslims to leave the country.

Early modern history: Ireland

In 1652, Oliver Cromwell and the English military took over Ireland. Cromwell wanted all Catholics to leave eastern Ireland. He "offered Irish Catholics a choice between genocide and forced mass population transfer" to northwest Ireland.

Cromwell and the English military took away 40% of the land owned by Irish Catholics and gave it to English Protestants. On land that Catholics still owned, they burned crops. Their goal was to starve the Irish Catholics and force them to move away. The English also massacred Irish Catholics and threatened to execute any Irish person who fought back.

England's actions were "the greatest episode of ethnic cleansing ever attempted in Western Europe," according to historian John Morrill. About 600,000 Irish people died – almost half (43%) of the Irish population.

This was definitely an ethnic cleansing, because the English tried to force all Catholics out of eastern Ireland. Since so many Irish Catholics were killed, some historians say it was also a genocide. They argue that Cromwell was trying to destroy the Irish Catholics, not just push them into the northwest.

The 19th century: Native Americans removal

In the 19th century, the United States government committed an ethnic cleansing against Native American tribes.

At that time, the United States was much smaller than it is now, and its population was growing. People wanted more land. The area we now call the Southern United States had always belonged to Native American tribes, like the Cherokee Nation. However, many Americans wanted to take over this land.

In the early 1800s, the United States government started a program of 'removing' these tribes from the South. Its goal was to make the tribes move west, outside the United States, so Americans could take their land.

Some tribes signed treaties and agreed to move. However, other tribes refused to leave the land that had always been theirs. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. He used this law to force tribes in the South to leave the United States. Under Jackson's command, the United States military took land away from Creek and Seminole Indians.

The Trail of Tears

The Cherokee Nation refused to leave their homes. In 1838, President Martin van Buren ordered the military to force them to leave.p. 41 Soldiers forced about 15,000 Cherokees and 2,000 of their slaves into internment camps, where 353 Cherokee died from diseases during one summer.pp. 41–42

After that, the United States military forced the Cherokee to walk from the South to what is now Oklahoma and Arkansas. Around 4,000 people died on the way, according to most historians. This was one out of every four people in the Cherokee population.

Because so many people died, this forced migration is now called the Trail of Tears.

The 20th century: Poles during The Holocaust

In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. This started World War II. After taking over part of Poland, Nazi Germany committed an ethnic cleansing against the Polish people.

The Nazis forced at least 1.5 million Polish people out of the country. They wanted to make room for Germans to move into Poland and have the living space for themselves. They also used the Polish people they deported for forced labor.

The Nazis sent hundreds of thousands of Polish people to concentration camps and death camps. During World War II, they killed at least 3 million Polish Jews and at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Poles.

The 21st century: Darfur

Starting in 2003, the government of Sudan was accused of committing an ethnic cleansing against black ethnic groups in Darfur. The Sudanese military, police, and a militia called the Janjaweed have done this by:

  • Attacking and massacring civilians
  • Bombing and burning down villages
  • Forcing people to leave Darfur, then giving their villages to Arab people
  • Raping and sexually assaulting thousands of women and girls

As of 2007, about 450,000 black Darfurians had been killed, and about 800 villages had been destroyed. As of April 2008, about 2.5 million people – one-third of Darfur's population – were living in refugee camps. These people had been forced to leave their homes, either by soldiers, or because their villages had been destroyed.

Notes

  1. ↑ The ICTY is an international court that was created to try people accused of committing crimes against humanity, war crimes, or genocide during the Yugoslav Wars.

References

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  3. ↑ Case of Jorgic v. Germany: Judgment §45 (European Court of Human Rights, December 10, 2007). Citing Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro § 190 (International Court of Justice). European Court of Human Rights. Council of Europe. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
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  5. ↑ "Definitions of Genocide and Related Crimes". United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the responsibility to Protect. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  6. ↑ Ferdinandusse, Ward (2004). The Interaction of National and International Approaches in the Repression of International Crimes. The European Journal of International Law 15 (4): 1041-1053. doi:10.1093/ejil/chh509. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008.
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  8. ↑ "Ethnic Cleansing ‑ Definition, Meaning & Examples". HISTORY. 2019-06-10. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
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  12. ↑ "About the ICTY". International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. United Nations. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ Updated Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Article 5. p. 6. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. United Nations. September 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
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  35. ↑ Carter III, Samuel (1976). Cherokee Sunset: A Nation Betrayed. A Narrative of Travail and Triumph, Persecution and Exile. New York: Doubleday. p. 232. ISBN 978-0385067355.
  36. ↑ Jones, Billy (1984). Cherokees: An Illustrated History. Muskogee, Oklahoma: The Five Civilized Tribes Museum. pp. 74–81. ISBN 0-86546-059-0.
  37. ↑ Rozema, Vicki (1995). Footsteps of the Cherokee. Winston-Salem, North Carolina: John F. Blair. p. 52. ISBN 0-89587-133-5.
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