Definition of Genocide
The term "genocide" was coined by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin after World War Two. The text of the Genocide Convention adopted by the U.N. defines it as "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such" through five acts, all of which must be present.
1. Killing members of the group
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
At the insistence of the USSR, political and class groups were excluded, as the Soviets didn't want the perpetrators of the Great Terror or the Holodomor to be accused of genocide. This also prevented the "killing fields" of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from being included.
It's important to use the term as defined, and not apply it as a pejorative to wars that people may personally disapprove of.
1. Killing members of the group
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
At the insistence of the USSR, political and class groups were excluded, as the Soviets didn't want the perpetrators of the Great Terror or the Holodomor to be accused of genocide. This also prevented the "killing fields" of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from being included.
It's important to use the term as defined, and not apply it as a pejorative to wars that people may personally disapprove of.
