What is genocide and ethnic cleansing?
Ethnic cleansing and genocide are two related terms that pertain to large-scale efforts to eliminate an undesirable segment of people, often defined by race, religion or cultural identification, through coercive or violent means.DifferencesWhile similar, the two terms are slightly different in nature. Ethnic cleansing is a more general label that can be placed on any of a range of practices used to eliminate a targeted group from a given region, including forced relocation to other areas. Genocide is a specific term that refers to the attempted destruction of the targeted group through a variety of means, most notably widespread killing. Genocide can be one aspect of ethnic cleansing.DefinitionsWhile genocide is usually associated with mass murder, the United Nations defined the term in 1948 to include other activities as well including forced removal of children and causing physical or mental harm. There is significant overlap between genocide and its sister term ethnic cleansing.Orig
