Tweet
CNN Wire
September 20, 2013 Friday 5:24 PM EST
Genocide Fast Facts
By CNN Library
(CNN) -- Here's a look at what you need to know about genocide, the
attempted or intentional destruction of a national, racial, religious,
or ethnic group, whether in wartime or peace.
Facts: The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide was adopted by the United Nations after World War II.
Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as any of the following
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnic, racial or religious group: (a) Killing its members;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c)
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing
measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.
Timeline (selected events): 1915-1923 - Armenians are forced out of
their homeland by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire
through massacres and deportation. There are an estimated 1 million to
1.5 million deaths. Turkey denies any genocide, stating the death toll
is inflated and the dead are victims of civil unrest.
1932-1933 - Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union inflict a famine upon
the Ukraine after people rebel against the imposed system of land
management known as "collectivization," which seizes privately owned
farmlands and puts people to work in collectives. An estimated
25,000-33,000 people die every day. There are an estimated 6 million
to 10 million deaths.
December 1937-January 1938 - The Japanese Imperial Army marches into
Nanking, China and kills an estimated 300,000 Chinese civilians and
soldiers. Tens of thousands are raped before they are murdered.
1938-1945 - Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, deems the Jewish
population racially inferior and a threat, and kills an estimated six
million Jews in Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union, and other areas
around Europe during World War II.
1944 - The term "genocide" is coined by lawyer Raphael Lemkin.
December 9, 1948 - The United Nations adopts the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
January 12, 1951 - The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide enters into force. It is eventually ratified by
142 nations.
1975-1979 - Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's attempt to turn Cambodia into
a Communist peasant farming society leads to the deaths of up to two
million people from starvation, forced labor, and executions.
1988 - The Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein attacks civilians who
have remained in "prohibited" areas. The attacks include the use of
mustard gas and nerve agents and result in the death of an estimated
100,000 Iraqi Kurds.
1992-1995 - Yugoslavia, led by President Slobodan Milosevic, attacks
Bosnia after it declares its independence. Approximately 100,000
Muslims, or Bosniaks, are killed by the Serbs during this "ethnic
cleansing." There are mass executions of "battle-age" men and mass
rape of women.
1994 - In Rwanda, an estimated 800,000 civilians, mostly from the
Tutsi ethnic group, are killed over a period of three months.
1998 - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda establishes the
precedent that rape during warfare is a crime of genocide. In Rwanda,
HIV-infected men had participated in the mass rape of Tutsi women.
1998 - The first genocide conviction occurs at the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Jean Paul Akayesu, the Hutu mayor of the
town, Taba, is convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.
July 1, 2002 - The International Criminal Court opens at The Hague,
The Netherlands as the first permanent war crimes tribunal, with
jurisdiction to try perpetrators of genocide. Previously, the U.N.
Security Council created ad hoc tribunals to try those responsible for
genocide in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda.
2003-present - In the Darfur region of Sudan an estimated 200,000 to
500,000 people are killed.
2008 - Fugitive Radovan Karadzic, former Bosnian Serb leader, is
arrested. He is charged with genocide in connection with the
Srebrenica massacre of 1995.
July 2004 - The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate pass
resolutions declaring the crisis in Darfur to be genocide.
March 4, 2009 - The International Criminal Court issues an arrest
warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of
crimes against humanity and war crimes. In 2010, three more counts of
genocide are added to the arrest warrant.
2013 - There are 122 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court. Although the U.S. signed it just
before the deadline in December 2000, in May 2002, the administration
of President George W. Bush unsigned it.
From: A. Papazian
September 20, 2013 Friday 5:24 PM EST
Genocide Fast Facts
By CNN Library
(CNN) -- Here's a look at what you need to know about genocide, the
attempted or intentional destruction of a national, racial, religious,
or ethnic group, whether in wartime or peace.
Facts: The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide was adopted by the United Nations after World War II.
Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as any of the following
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnic, racial or religious group: (a) Killing its members;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c)
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing
measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.
Timeline (selected events): 1915-1923 - Armenians are forced out of
their homeland by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire
through massacres and deportation. There are an estimated 1 million to
1.5 million deaths. Turkey denies any genocide, stating the death toll
is inflated and the dead are victims of civil unrest.
1932-1933 - Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union inflict a famine upon
the Ukraine after people rebel against the imposed system of land
management known as "collectivization," which seizes privately owned
farmlands and puts people to work in collectives. An estimated
25,000-33,000 people die every day. There are an estimated 6 million
to 10 million deaths.
December 1937-January 1938 - The Japanese Imperial Army marches into
Nanking, China and kills an estimated 300,000 Chinese civilians and
soldiers. Tens of thousands are raped before they are murdered.
1938-1945 - Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, deems the Jewish
population racially inferior and a threat, and kills an estimated six
million Jews in Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union, and other areas
around Europe during World War II.
1944 - The term "genocide" is coined by lawyer Raphael Lemkin.
December 9, 1948 - The United Nations adopts the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
January 12, 1951 - The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide enters into force. It is eventually ratified by
142 nations.
1975-1979 - Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's attempt to turn Cambodia into
a Communist peasant farming society leads to the deaths of up to two
million people from starvation, forced labor, and executions.
1988 - The Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein attacks civilians who
have remained in "prohibited" areas. The attacks include the use of
mustard gas and nerve agents and result in the death of an estimated
100,000 Iraqi Kurds.
1992-1995 - Yugoslavia, led by President Slobodan Milosevic, attacks
Bosnia after it declares its independence. Approximately 100,000
Muslims, or Bosniaks, are killed by the Serbs during this "ethnic
cleansing." There are mass executions of "battle-age" men and mass
rape of women.
1994 - In Rwanda, an estimated 800,000 civilians, mostly from the
Tutsi ethnic group, are killed over a period of three months.
1998 - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda establishes the
precedent that rape during warfare is a crime of genocide. In Rwanda,
HIV-infected men had participated in the mass rape of Tutsi women.
1998 - The first genocide conviction occurs at the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Jean Paul Akayesu, the Hutu mayor of the
town, Taba, is convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.
July 1, 2002 - The International Criminal Court opens at The Hague,
The Netherlands as the first permanent war crimes tribunal, with
jurisdiction to try perpetrators of genocide. Previously, the U.N.
Security Council created ad hoc tribunals to try those responsible for
genocide in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda.
2003-present - In the Darfur region of Sudan an estimated 200,000 to
500,000 people are killed.
2008 - Fugitive Radovan Karadzic, former Bosnian Serb leader, is
arrested. He is charged with genocide in connection with the
Srebrenica massacre of 1995.
July 2004 - The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate pass
resolutions declaring the crisis in Darfur to be genocide.
March 4, 2009 - The International Criminal Court issues an arrest
warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of
crimes against humanity and war crimes. In 2010, three more counts of
genocide are added to the arrest warrant.
2013 - There are 122 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court. Although the U.S. signed it just
before the deadline in December 2000, in May 2002, the administration
of President George W. Bush unsigned it.
From: A. Papazian