Domicide (from Latin domus, meaning home or abode, and caedo, meaning deliberate killing, though used here metaphorically), is the destruction of housing for corporate, political, strategic or bureaucratic reasoning.[1] It can also encompass the widespread destruction of a living environment, forcing the incumbent humans to move elsewhere.[2][3] In a human rights context, domicide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of housing and basic infrastructure, making an area uninhabitable.[4] The concept of domicide originated in the 1970s, but only assumed its present meaning in 2022, after a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal[4][5][6]
Rajagopal has argued that international law should be amended to consider domicide to be a war crime.[7]
- ^ "Domicide | McGill-Queen's University Press". www.mqup.ca. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
- ^ Sullivan, Becky (9 February 2024). "What is 'domicide,' and why has war in Gaza brought new attention to the term?". National Public Radio. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
- ^ Porteous, Douglas; Sandra E. Smith (2001). Domicide: The Global Destruction Of Home. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 12. ISBN 9780773569614.
- ^ a b "Amid Israeli Destruction in Gaza, a New Crime Against Humanity Emerges: Domicide". Haaretz. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
- ^ "Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Balakrishnan Rajagopal (A/77/190) [EN/AR/RU/ZH] - World | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 2022-10-28. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
- ^ ""Domicide" must be recognised as an international crime: UN expert". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. October 28, 2022.
- ^ Rajagopal, Balakrishnan (2024-01-29). "Opinion | Domicide: The Mass Destruction of Homes Should Be a Crime Against Humanity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-01-29.