List of genocides
This list includes all events which have been classified as genocide by significant scholarship. As there are varying definitions of genocide, this list includes events around which there is ongoing scholarly debate over their classification as genocide and is not a list of only events which have a scholarly consensus to recognize them as genocide. This list excludes mass killings which have not been explicitly defined as genocidal. According to the Genocide Convention, genocides have happened in all historical periods.
Concept of genocide
Polish–Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the term "genocide" in response to world events such as the Armenian genocide and World War II. His initial definition was "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" in which its members were not targeted as individuals, but rather as members of the group. The objectives of genocide "would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups". Lemkin brought his proposal to criminalize genocide to the newly established United Nations in 1946. Opposition to the convention was greater than Lemkin expected due to states' concerns that it would lead their own policies—including treatment of indigenous peoples, European colonialism, racial segregation in the United States, and Soviet nationalities policy—to be labeled genocide. Before the convention was passed, powerful countries secured changes in an attempt to make the convention unenforceable and applicable to their geopolitical rivals' actions but not their own. Few formerly colonized countries were represented and "most states had no interest in empowering their victims– past, present, and future".The 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as:
The result severely diluted Lemkin's original concept; he privately considered it a failure. Lemkin's anti-colonial conception of genocide was transformed into one that favored colonial powers. Among the violence freed from the stigma of genocide was the destruction of political groups, which the Soviet Union is particularly blamed for blocking. Although Lemkin credited women's NGOs with securing the passage of the convention, the gendered violence of forced pregnancy, marriage, and divorce was left out. Additionally omitted was the forced migration of populations—which had been carried out by the Soviet Union and its satellites, condoned by the Western Allies, against millions of Germans from central and Eastern Europe.
Many countries have incorporated genocide into their municipal law, varying to a lesser or greater extent from the convention. The convention's definition of genocide was adopted verbatim by the ad hoc international criminal tribunals and by the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court. The crime of genocide also exists in customary international law and is therefore prohibited for non-signatories. Scholarship varies on the definition of genocide employed when analysing whether events are genocidal in nature. The Convention and other definitions are generally regarded by the majority of genocide scholars to have an "intent to destroy" as a requirement for any act to be labelled genocide; there is also growing agreement on the inclusion of the physical destruction criterion. According to Ernesto Verdeja, associate professor of political science and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame, there are three ways to conceptualize genocide other than the legal definition: in academic social science, in international politics and policy, and in colloquial public usage. Many social scientists do not require that intent be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and may include other groups of people in addition to the legally protected ones, such as political groups. The international politics and policy definition centres around prevention policy and intervention and may actually mean "large-scale violence against civilians" when used by governments and international organizations. Lastly, Verdeja says the way the general public colloquially uses "genocide" is usually "as a stand-in term for the greatest evils".