Genocides from 1915 to 2006

With the possible exception of the Holocaust, the definition and application of the term ‘genocide’ has been fraught with controversy. In fact, since the term was legally codified by the United Nations in 1948 as they approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, only two cases have been determined to have constituted genocide. These are the Rwandan genocide and the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia in 1995.

In her book Human Rights and Wrongs: Slavery, Terror, Genocide, researcher Helen Fein has drawn on a range of historical documents to estimate the actual numbers of people killed in genocide in the last century. As you can see from the table below, more people have died in genocides than are accounted for by the two existing cases confirmed by the international courts and tribunals.

Table of Genocides from 1915 - 2006
Table source: Centre on Law and Globalization

The defining factor in determining genocide is whether the offending party had the intention to destroy a group of people in whole or in part on the basis that they were simply part of that group.

Cambodia

That is why, for example, despite the number of deaths in Cambodia, the ECCC have been unable to establish genocide as they cannot prove that there was an intention to destroy any specific group. Where there were instances of the slaughter of ethnic Vietnamese and Cham Muslim minorities, charges of genocide were brought against Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan and former first lady Ieng Thirith.

Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo

You will note that the table above includes the Rwandan genocide which is considered to have taken place over one hundred days between April and July 1994. It does not include the decade of systematic rape that is documented to have taken place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1994 and 2003 (and in fact, still continues to this day). The situation in the Congo is directly linked to the Rwandan situation but is considered separately.

Herero and Namaqua Genocide and the Gukurahundi

Bizarrely enough, the table leaves off the Gukurahundi which was the deliberate and systematic attempt by Robert Mugabe and his government to destroy the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe in the early 1980s.

Also not included (as the period it analyses begins in 1915) is the first genocide of the 20th Century, the Herero and Namaqua genocide which took place between 1904 and 1907.

Image credit: “Auschwitz I Camp - Arbeit Macht Frei - Detail of Main Gate - Oswiecim, Poland” – Adam Jones (source)

Cher Duncombe20 February 2011 at 20:00
Emm, there is nothing like semantics, is there? How in the world can the DRC be left out when they do factor in Rwanda? You are so right. The links to both are there and the genocide continues unabated by a corrupt military which is guarding minerals for the wealthy rulers. And women are raped, disowned by their families, and live with the thoughts of torture each and every day.
Mandy20 February 2011 at 20:15
@ Cher: hiya! I think the distinction is that the genocide in 1994 was a planned, organised, deliberate attempt to wipe the Tutsi race from the face of the planet. What is happening in DRC is an uncoordinated, wanton campaign of terror and intimidation. It is an exertion of power through rape and pillaging. No one is saying that it isn't happening but without the intention to wipe a population of people from the earth, it remains mass murder or crimes against humanity at most. Likewise, unless they can prove an intention to ethnically cleanse, the rape is not considered an act of genocide.

I will be covering DRC as part of my genocide studies though in order to answer these questions.

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Sunday, 20 February 2011