Genocide

Genocide
Genocide became popular after the World War II. It was used to describe the ferocity against members of a racial, cultural, or religious group with intent to destabilize the total population. In 1944, Raphael Lemkina, a Jewish lawyer came up with the word genocide by combining ‘geno’ and ‘cide.’ ‘Geno’ is a Greek word meaning tribe or race while ‘cide’ is a Latin word for killing. Lemkin describes that genocide comprises harmonized strategies performed by ferocious persons with the objective of destroying or killing a particular target population. The United Nations (UN) approved genocide as an international crime. The ‘Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide’ articulated that genocide represents violent acts against the state, ethnic, or religious subgroups (Chinole 495). The atrocities involve assassination of groups or causing grave physical or cognitive maltreatment. Equally, genocide entails promoting methods to prevent the deliveries within the specified subgroup. Other forms of may include forcibly transferring children or the populace from their ancestral homes. In this view, genocide disrupts the livelihood standards of the individuals and enhances their vulnerability to externalities such as disease outbreaks.
Genocide is different from large-scale massacre on the basis that genocide is the systematic killing of a vast number of people based on their religion, ethnicity, political beliefs, and social status. Conversely, the massacre is the intentional killing of a vast number of people under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.

However, both incidences entail the destruction of properties and deaths of innocent individuals. The triggering factors comprise differences based on ethnic, religious, or political differences.
Mass Killing of Black Africans by Belgians in Belgian Congo (1880-1907)
Mass killings and genocide are violent actions that have disrupted the global peace and sustainability for a long time. During the period between 1880 and 1907, King Leopold of Belgium led a system of terror and atrocity in his empire in Congo. The actions halved Congo’s population from approximately twenty million to ten million resulting from mass killing, mass displacement, disease, and forced labor (Bellamy 931). Congolese citizens were obliged to work for the regime to attain an annual rubber quota and individuals that failed were killed. In addition, women and children were abducted and held hostage to force the men to work in the plantations. Other men were compelled to transport the rubber by foot for long distances. Besides, they were whipped and tortured in the process. Through the harsh conditions and the brutality, many Congolese citizens lost their lives while others were misplaced from their homes. The acts also affected the social stability and institutions of the populace leading to a degraded society while Leopold and his government benefited.
Many people argue that Leopold and Hitler had significant similarities because of their approach to handling the followers and colonies. Surprisingly, other historians articulate that Leopold never committed any atrocities to warrant the title of a dictator. Leopold’s governance approach was justified by the belief that there was the necessity of violence to maintain order. In this perspective, Leopold’s claim to sovereignty in Congo allowed violence against the citizens as a mechanism for protecting the white and enhancing the interest of the Congolese. The reason why Leopold is not linked to genocide despite killing and murdering approximately ten to fifteen million people is that Belgium obtained enormous profits from Congo (Bellamy 950). Moreover, he has a legacy of progressing the economic and infrastructural development as evinced by the successful urban projects and public works in Belgium. These development legacies earned him the title of ‘Builder King.’
Armenian Genocide of 1915
Those who ruled in the Ottoman regime were Muslims. They allowed religious subgroups, for instance, the Armenians to uphold a certain form of sovereignty although they imperiled them to inequality. Christians paid higher taxes than the Muslims and had minimal political rights. Regardless of the uneven treatment, the Armenian people upheld their beliefs. It is articulated that about two million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire during the start of the mass killing. However, these victims of the mass killing also involved 1.8 million Armenians who lived in the Caucasus under Russian rule some who were massacred by Ottoman forces in 1918. As a result of the murder and forced deportation, the population of Armenians living in Turkey dropped from two million in 1914 to under 400,000 in 1922 (Bloxham 143). The genocide events occurred on the 24th day of April 1915 when the Turkish government apprehended and killed seven hundred Armenian intellects. Similarly, the Armenians citizens were also forced driven out of their residences.
Hovannisian hypothesizes that during the genocide, the victims were reported to have died by drowning, in mass burnings, torture, poison, disease, and starvation. Children were loaded onto boats and taken to the sea where they were thrown overboard (169). These mass killings were carried out by a ‘special organization’ created by the Young Turks which organized killing squads and butcher battalions.
Bosnia Genocide
The genocide resulted from the conflict between three main ethnic groups between the Croats, Serbs, and Muslims. These confrontations triggered the Serbs to commit genocide against the Muslims in Bosnia. Bosnia emerged after the breakup of Yugoslavia, which was a multicultural country that developed after World War. Yugoslavia involved various ethnic and religious groups that differed on ideologies (Amerasinghe 413). The main groups in this confrontation involved Croats who were Catholics, the Serbs who were Orthodox Christians, and the ethnic Albanians who were Muslims.
After the death of Tito who was a strong leader and a communist in 1980, a Serbian leader known as Slobodan Milosevic arose. He was a former communist who used nationalism and religious hatred to obtain popularity and power. Through his reign, he created tension between Serbs and Muslims in Kosovo. The problem emanated when Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991. The declaration led to a civil war with the cooperation of Serbian guerrillas who lived in Croatia. The war escalated when the Milosevic’s soldiers attacked to safeguard the Serbian minority (Amerasinghe 416).
The American oversaw an agreement between the Croats and Serbs in 1991. In April 1992 the European Community and the U.S recognized the independence of Bosnia which was mostly populated by Muslims and the Serb were the minority. On the other hand, Milosevic responded to the declaration of Bosnia as an independent country by attacking its capital city, Sarajevo. Serb snipers were used in the shooting of helpless civilians who included 3500 children (Amerasinghe 415). Bosnian Muslims were outgunned, and thus the Serbs gained more power that led to them to rounding local Muslims shot them mercilessly. The Serbs force the Muslim families to flee from the towns since they raped their women.
In 1993, the U.N peacekeepers established six Muslim towns that were referred to as haven. Bosnian Serbs attacked the Safe Havens and took hundreds of U.N peacekeepers as hostages. It was during this period that the worst genocidal activities were undertaken. The U.N peacekeepers were shot, and the Serbs slaughtered around 8000 men and boys that were the worst mass killing in Europe since the Word War II (Schabas 254).
The Rwandan Genocide
The incident started on April 6, 1994, when there was shooting down of a plane that was carrying Habyarimana and Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamira. Hours from the crash was followed by setting up roadblocks and barricades that were established by the Presidential Guard together with members of the Rwandan armed forces and the Hutu militia groups who were known as the Interahamwen (Prunier 56). It then led to the slaughtering of Tutsis and the moderate Hutus. Notably, among the first victims of the genocide was the Prime Minister of the moderate Hutu, Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian bodyguards.
These mass killing in Rwanda quickly spread from Kigali to the entire country within the duration of three months, 800,000 people were slaughtered (Prunier 358). The viciousness increased because of the decision of the Hutu administration and the local leaders to incite citizens to kill or fight the neighbors. By the time stability as obtained in the country, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were dead and others displaced from their homes. It is documented that by this time 500,000 ethnic Tutsis were murdered along with thousands of Tutsis sympathizers and moderate Hutus.
Definition of Whether the above Atrocities are Genocide or Not
Notably, all these atrocities were committed with a motive to destroy a particular group by their ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs. The Mass Killing of Black Africans by Belgians in Belgian Congo (1880-1907), King Leopold of Belgium killed Congolese to obtain power and since they did not share the same nationality as him. On the other hand, the Armenian Genocide of 1915 was subjected to Christians since they did not share the same religion as the Muslim leaders. Additionally, for the Bosnia genocide Muslims were killed by the Serbs since they had religious differences while as the Rwandan Genocide was due to political conflict.
Similarities of the Four Atrocities
The common feature of all atrocities is that they involved the merciless mass killing of people. Additionally, there are reported rape cases and killing children in all the incidences. Besides, the conflict arose from the difference in interest such as political and religious. From the atrocities, there were displacements of people from their land especially the minority groups that could not defend themselves. The other countries that were involved in the atrocities faced drastic population decrease and political instability.
Differences between the Four Atrocities
The Mass Killing of Black Africans by Belgians in Belgian Congo was based on nationality while as the Armenian Genocide of 1915 was triggered by religious differences. The actions resulted to the torturing of minority Armenian who were Christians (Hovannisian 86). Similarly, the Bosnia genocide entailed the killing of Muslims by the Serbs. The Rwandan Genocide was based on political differences. Thus, all the atrocities resulted from different perspectives namely the political, religious, and economic issues.
Ways in Which, the Four Atrocities, are similar and Different from the Nazi Holocaust
The Nazi Holocaust entailed confrontation that led to the killing of about six million European Jews. Besides, the German Nazi killed several groups including the Gypsies and homosexuals by Hitler. Most Nazis were outright racists and believed in the superiority of the Aryan. It is hypothesized that the Nazis wiped out 5,291,000 Jews, 10,547,000 Slavs, 258,000 Gypsies, and 220,000 homosexuals.
The similarities between the four atrocities and the Nazi Holocaust is that all of them involve mass killing with a certain purpose thus all fit in the bracket of genocides. Additionally, in all the cases there was displacement of people and rape cases reported. The Nazi Holocaust, Armenian Genocide of 1915, Mass Killing of Black Africans, and the Bosnia genocide shared some similarities based on religion and race.
How the United Nations and the World government reacted to atrocities
The United Nations responded to the Mass killing of Black Africans by Belgians in 1960 by supporting the independence of Congo. The decision emanated from the global pressure and antislavery movements. This was faced with rebellion by Belgium that sent troops to Congo to protect the wealth that they accumulated by colonizing the country. However, several meetings were held between the Pacific States and African Caribbean over the same issue.
The European Union on how the conflict would be solved.
Additionally, the UN facilitated the formation of ‘International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). This body was initially called the ‘International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda’ (ICTR) (Schabas 97). This tribunal marked a critical response to the Rwandan genocide by facilitating ceasefire between fighting factions. The court was formed with the intention to impose capital punishment. The ICTR completed its first case in 1998 after former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty leading to the life imprisonment.
For the case of Armenian Genocide, countries such as Britain and the Unites States approved the St. James’ Declaration that international solidarity was necessary for justice. The statement outlined penalty for war crimes by the United Nations stipulations to end the offense. Britain, the America, and the Soviet Union formulated a joint pronouncement reproving Nazi atrocities in November 1943.

Works Cited
Amerasinghe, C. F. “The Bosnia Genocide Case.” Leiden Journal of International Law 21.02 (2008): 411-428.
Bellamy, Alex J. “Massacres and Morality: Mass Killing in an Age of Civilian Immunity.” Human Rights Quarterly 34.4 (2012): 927-958.
Bloxham, Donald. “The Armenian genocide of 1915-1916: cumulative radicalization and the development of a destruction policy.” Past & Present 181 (2003): 141-191.
Chinole, Cristina Cazacu. “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health (2012): 493-495.
Hovannisian, Richard G. The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers, 2007.
Prunier, Gérard. Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Schabas, William. Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.