A genocide occurs when the aim is to eliminate a social group.
A genocide is the systematic extermination of a social group , motivated by issues of race, religion , ethnicity, politics or nationality. It is a mass murder that seeks the elimination of the group and may even include measures to prevent births.
Hence, the aforementioned genocide is considered the most serious and extensive act of what is called ethnic cleansing. That is, trying to ensure that in a country or a specific territory it is possible to put an end to the presence of people who are considered “inferior” for reasons of race or religion, among other characteristics.
The studies carried out so far, and especially by figures such as historian Michael Mann, have led to the knowledge of absolutely tragic figures. Thus, it is estimated that throughout history, genocides carried out in different corners of the world have resulted in the death of more than 60 million people.
The concept of genocide
Genocide is usually carried out by a government in charge of state power. It is considered an international crime that can be tried by the competent bodies in the matter.
Historians claim that Raphael Lemkin was responsible for developing the concept of genocide, by uniting the Greek root genos ( "family" , "tribe" ) and the Latin word cidio (from cidere , "kill" ). Lemkin was in charge of proposing that international norms condemn and punish those responsible for genocide.
The definition of genocide, however, is not exact. Jurists affirm that genocide is different from what is linked to a war , where the objective is to disarm the enemy and not exterminate it. On the other hand, genocide is not the same as serial murder , since it denies the right of existence of a human group (serial murder, on the other hand, is a periodic murder of isolated people).
The Jewish people were victims of genocide by Nazism.
Historical examples
In the case of Spain, the cases of genocide that have been brought to court refer to the deaths caused both during the Civil War and in the subsequent period, in the post-war period, during which the country was in the hands of the dictator Francisco Franc.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that throughout history there have been cases of genocide that have demonstrated the cruelty of human beings. One of the most famous and largest was the one that took place in Rwanda in the 1990s.
Specifically in that corner of Africa, what occurred was the attempt to wipe out the Tutsi population by those who were in power at that time, the members of the Hutu government.
The Armenian genocide ( 1915 – 1917 ), with the death of one and a half million people, and the Holocaust carried out by Nazism (with nearly six million dead) are historical examples of genocide. It should be noted that, in both cases, there are historians and political groups that try to minimize or even deny the scope of the massacre, despite numerous historical evidence.