Genocide << JEHN uh syd >> is the deliberate and systematic mistreatment or extermination of a national, racial, political, religious, or cultural group. Genocide is committed by organized groups, usually governments. The word comes from the Greek word genos, which means race or tribe, and the Latin -cide, meaning killing.
Throughout history, there have been persecutions and atrocities that can be described as cases of genocide. The Russian pogroms (persecutions of the Jews) during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s are an example of genocide. The Holocaust, another example, was the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II (1939-1945).
In 1948, the United Nations (UN) adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The agreement states that acts of genocide are crimes under international law, and that nations should work to prevent and punish such acts. However, since the mid-1900’s, genocides have occurred in such places as Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Rwanda.
In November 1994, the UN established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where ethnic tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi groups had led to the massacres of some 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In 1998, the tribunal became the first international court to pass a guilty verdict for the crime of genocide. During its 21 years in operation, the court convicted a number of Rwandan government and military officials and others responsible for the massacres. The special tribunal officially closed down at the end of 2015 after hearing its last case.
Also in 1998, the UN approved a resolution calling for the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC, which began operations in 2003, hears cases involving genocide and other violations of human rights.
