The UN’s convention on genocide, which was drafted after the second world war, defines genocide exceptionally broadly, in ways that are quite different from the popular understanding of the term
. But the charge of genocide is more serious, and the word is often misused. What is genocide?
The UN’s convention on genocide, which was drafted after the second world war, defines it exceptionally broadly, in ways that are quite different from the popular understanding of the term. It is not only killing that counts, says the convention. So do “measures intended to prevent births”, if their aim is “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
Defining genocide so broadly creates problems. If one reads the convention literally—and that is how one is supposed to read laws—an awful lot of governments can be accused of it. Officials in most countries have sometimes inflicted “serious bodily or mental harm” on members of ethnic minorities.
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