The official United Nations definition of ethnic cleansing is "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group"
The purpose of ethnic cleansing is to remove the conditions for potential and actual opposition, whether political, guerrilla or military, by physically removing any potentially or actually hostile ethnic communities. Although it has sometimes been motivated by a doctrine that claim an ethnic group is literally "unclean".
As a tactic, ethnic cleansing has a number of significant impacts. It enables a force to eliminate civilian support for resistance by eliminating the civilians — recognizing Mao Zedong's dictum that guerrillas among a civilian population are fish in water, it removes the fish by draining the water.
For the most part, ethnic cleansing is such a brutal tactic and so often accompanied by large-scale bloodshed that it is widely reviled. It is generally regarded as lying somewhere between population transfers and genocide on a scale of odiousness, and is treated by international law as a war crime.
The purpose of ethnic cleansing is to remove the conditions for potential and actual opposition, whether political, guerrilla or military, by physically removing any potentially or actually hostile ethnic communities. Although it has sometimes been motivated by a doctrine that claim an ethnic group is literally "unclean".
As a tactic, ethnic cleansing has a number of significant impacts. It enables a force to eliminate civilian support for resistance by eliminating the civilians — recognizing Mao Zedong's dictum that guerrillas among a civilian population are fish in water, it removes the fish by draining the water.
For the most part, ethnic cleansing is such a brutal tactic and so often accompanied by large-scale bloodshed that it is widely reviled. It is generally regarded as lying somewhere between population transfers and genocide on a scale of odiousness, and is treated by international law as a war crime.
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The Independent
Sudan's aid purge may be a war crime
Saturday, 7 March 2009
The UN human rights office will examine whether Sudan's decision to expel aid groups constitutes a war crime or a breach of human rights, a spokesman said.
Rupert Colville said the expulsion of 6,500 workers from 13 aid groups including Care, Oxfam and Save the Children was a "grievous dereliction" of duty that put thousands of lives at risk. The WHO said it would compromise disease-monitoring efforts and could lead to unchecked outbreaks of disease. The agencies were told to leave after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Sudan's aid purge may be a war crime
Saturday, 7 March 2009
The UN human rights office will examine whether Sudan's decision to expel aid groups constitutes a war crime or a breach of human rights, a spokesman said.
Rupert Colville said the expulsion of 6,500 workers from 13 aid groups including Care, Oxfam and Save the Children was a "grievous dereliction" of duty that put thousands of lives at risk. The WHO said it would compromise disease-monitoring efforts and could lead to unchecked outbreaks of disease. The agencies were told to leave after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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