Ethnic cleansing: Difference between revisions

'''Ethnic cleansing''' is the systematic forced removal of [[ethnic]], [[racial]], or [[religious]] groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically [[homogeneous]]. Along with direct removal such as [[deportation]] or [[population transfer]], it also includes indirect methods aimed at [[forced migration]] by coercing the victim group to flee and preventing its return, such as murder, rape, and property destruction.<ref name=UN/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walling |first1=Carrie Booth |title=The history and politics of ethnic cleansing |journal=The International Journal of Human Rights |date=2000 |volume=4 |issue=3–4 |pages=47–66 |doi=10.1080/13642980008406892 |s2cid=144001685 |quote=Most frequently, however, the aim of ethnic cleansing is to expel the despised ethnic group through either indirect coercion or direct force, and to ensure that return is impossible. Terror is the fundamental method used to achieve this end.<br />Methods of indirect coercion can include: introducing repressive laws and discriminatory measures designed to make minority life difficult; the deliberate failure to prevent mob violence against ethnic minorities; using surrogates to inflict violence; the destruction of the physical infrastructure upon which minority life depends; the imprisonment of male members of the ethnic group; threats to rape female members, and threats to kill. If ineffective, these indirect methods are often escalated to coerced emigration, where the removal of the ethnic group from the territory is pressured by physical force. This typically includes physical harassment and the expropriation of property. Deportation is an escalated form of direct coercion in that the forcible removal of 'undesirables' from the state's territory is organised, directed and carried out by state agents. The most serious of the direct methods, excluding genocide, is murderous cleansing, which entails the brutal and often public murder of some few in order to compel flight of the remaining group members.13 Unlike during genocide, when murder is intended to be total and an end in itself, murderous cleansing is used as a tool towards the larger aim of expelling survivors from the territory. The process can be made complete by revoking the citizenship of those who emigrate or flee.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schabas |first1=William A. |title='Ethnic Cleansing' and Genocide: Similarities and Distinctions |journal=European Yearbook of Minority Issues Online |date=2003 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=109–128 |doi=10.1163/221161104X00075 |quote=The Commission considered techniques of ethnic cleansing to include murder, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, extrajudicial executions, sexual assault, confinement of civilian populations in ghetto areas, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilian populations, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas, and wanton destruction of property.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>The danger of overstretching the term can be avoided...The goal of ethnic cleansing is to permanently remove a group from the area it inhabits...There is a popular dimension to ethnic cleansing because there are people needed to threaten with violence, to evict homes, organize mass transports, and to prevent the return of the unwanted...The main goal of ethnic cleansing was the removal of a group from a certain territory ''The Oxford Handbook of Postwar European History''. (2012). United Kingdom: OUP Oxford.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Joireman |first1=Sandra Fullerton |title=Peace, preference, and property : return migration after violent conflict |publisher=University of Michigan |page=49 |quote=Violent conflict changes communities. "Returnees painfully discover that in their period of absence the homeland communities and their identities have undergone transformation, and these ruptures and changes have serious implications for their ability to reclaim a sense of home upon homecoming." The first issue in terms of returning home is usually the restoration of property, specifically the return or rebuilding of homes. People want their property restored, often before they return. But home means more than property, it also refers to the nature of the community. Anthropological literature emphasizes that time and the experience of violence changes people's sense of home and desire to return, and the nature of their communities of origin. To sum up, previous research has identified factors that influence decisions to return: time, trauma, family characteristics and economic opportunities. |author-link=Sandra Joireman}}</ref> Both the definition and charge of ethnic cleansing is often disputed, with some researchers including and others excluding [[cultural genocide|coercive assimilation]] or mass killings as a means of depopulating an area of a particular group.{{sfn|Bulutgil|2018|p=1136}}<ref name=Garrity/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kirby-McLemore |first1=Jennifer |title=Settling the Genocide v. Ethnic Cleansing Debate: Ending Misuse of the Euphemism Ethnic Cleansing |journal=Denver Journal of International Law and Policy |date=2021–2022 |volume=50 |page=115 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/denilp50&div=11&id=&page=}}</ref>