Why do genocides occur?
Genocide, as defined by the 1984 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), is ‘any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.,
Genocide happens worldwide. Some famous cases were the Holocaust, Cambodian genocide and the Tutsis of Rwanda.
Before any genocide can occur, there are various preconditions to consider such as Motivation, Victims, Chance or Predicament and Government Status
Motivation is what causes these people to hate the minority group. So what motivates these people to orchestrate such a horrible act? Helen Fein identified four major motivations behind genocide.
Ã’šÃ‚· Extermination of threat or potential threat.
Ã’šÃ‚· Gain wealth and territorial expansion.
Ã’šÃ‚· Instigate beliefs and ideology.
Ã’šÃ‚· Demonstration of power.
Victims are usually the ones considered as the ‘trash of society,, ‘bugs, and ‘bacteria,. These people are no longer supported and protected by the state or government. They have no benefits and no rights.
Chance or predicament. This may include war, revolutions, social crisis and territorial expansion. Usually the majority group blames the minority group and the dominant group will be the one to exact revenge. In cases of territorial expansion, the usual victims are the innocent indigenous people who are being mistreated because of their land and wealth.
Government Status. Genocides happen in countries which have unstable government status, a dictator as a ruler, where various peace organizations like United Nations have no control over and where the neighboring countries or citizens do nothing.
In conclusion, genocides don’t just happen. It is orchestrated by a group of people who only think of themselves and their gain. The root cause of any genocide is greed and the only remedy is kindness. If we treat others as equals and think of other’s benefits more highly than ourselves, then I think we can prevent any further genocide to happen.
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