Global Issues/Perspectivesgenprevcc
Welcome to Concept Corner! Key concepts for this module are:
Ethnic Cleansing Ethnic cleansing is generally defined as a policy to remove an ethnic or religious group from a geographical area, using violence and intimidation. Ethnic cleansing is not a legal term under international law in the same way as war crimes or crimes against humanity are. While not specifically a crime in international law, however, it is recognised that ethnic cleansing may (in specific instances) constitute crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide. Find out more here: United Nations, 'Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes: A Tool for Prevention', Annex 1, p. 32, in Activity three, or below: United Nations, Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes Mass Atrocities / Atrocity Crimes The terms ‘mass atrocities’ or ‘atrocity crimes’ are used as umbrella terms to refer to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing collectively. These four crimes are included under the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principle (see below).
The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP or R2P) The Responsibility to Protect principle was agreed upon by UN Member States in 2005. RtoP is a commitment to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. You can read it here: The Responsibility to Protect
TIP: Remember to use these concepts in your assessment tasks! Students who demonstrate the ability to appropriately use terms from Concept Corner in their blogs, research essay and interview will be assessed favourably for doing so.
