Genocide

For other uses, see Genocide (disambiguation).

During the Cambodian genocide, many perceived dissidents were killed using axes, poles or other agricultural tools. The sites of their mass burial are now collectively referred to as the Killing Fields, and many memorials have been created to honor them.

Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people.[a][1]

There are widely varying definitions of genocide.[2] Raphael Lemkin first coined the term and favored a conception of the term that is significantly broader than the legal definition applied in international law.[3] The concept of genocide was first prohibited through the 1948 Genocide Convention, which defines it as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".[4] Outside of international law, genocide scholars have defined the term in ways that are narrower and broader than this definition, and there is a significant debate among genocide scholars on when the term may be applied.[2][5] "Minimalist" scholars consider genocide an exceptional event that has only occurred a few times in world history,[b] citing the killing of Jews by Nazi Germany in the Holocaust, the Hutu killing of Tutsis in Rwanda, and the Late Ottoman genocide of the Armenians as particular instances.[5][6] "Maximalists" argue that genocide has been commonplace in world history, believe that the definition of genocide in international law is too narrowly defined, and have suggested alternative definitions.[4] Others consider the concept itself problematic and argue that it implies that the protection of groups is more important than of individuals.[6]

The colloquial understanding of genocide is heavily influenced by the Holocaust as its archetype and is conceived as innocent victims targeted for their ethnic identity rather than for any political reason. Genocide is widely considered to be the epitome of human evil and often referred to as the "crime of crimes"; consequently, events are often denounced as genocide. Application of the term genocide is frequently controversial among members of the general public and mainstream scholarship.[2]


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  1. ^ Kiernan et al. 2023, p. 11.
  2. ^ a b c Kinstler, Linda (20 August 2024). "The Bitter Fight Over the Meaning of Genocide". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  3. ^ Bachman 2022, p. 48.
  4. ^ a b Kiernan 2023, p. 6.
  5. ^ a b "How do you define genocide?". BBC News. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2024. Since its adoption, the UN treaty has come under criticism from different sides, mostly by people frustrated with the difficulty of applying it to specific cases. Some have argued that the definition is too narrow; others that it is devalued by overuse.
  6. ^ a b David Stannard, "Deja Vu All Over Again", Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 10, issue 1, March 2008, p. 127.