Image shows the Genocide Memorial, National University, Huye, Rwanda 

 

 

Topics on the Page

 

What is Genocide?

 

CROSS-LINK: The Holocaust

 

Sudan and Dafur

 The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney a young adult novel about genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

 

Sri Lanka

 

Kashmir

 

Northern Ireland

 

The Balkans

 

Cambodia

Armenian Genocide logo in the rain

• The Armenian Genocide 

 

World History Wiki Page Cross-Links

 

• The Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials

 

• The Rwanda Genocide

 

 

 

 

 

  U. S. History Wiki Page Cross-Link Causes and Consequences of the Vietnam War

 

 

Special Emblem of International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime  

 

What is Genocide?

 

What is Genocide? United States Holocaust Museum

 

Click here to learn more about Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing, and Crimes Against Humanity 

 

 

Sudan and Darfur

 

Influential Literature page: The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

 

Sudan gained their independence and divisions that were made within the country by colonial British forces became real distinctions and civil war erupted.

 

• There were two civil wars that occurred here with a 10 year gap in between them. The civil wars took place due to a split in Sudan between the North and the South.

 

• Under colonial rule, the two sides were treated separately and grew far apart as a result. See map showing the Sudan and its Darfur region.

The North was mostly Muslim and Arab and had a strong Egyptian presence and influence while the south was full of Christian blacks, which, as seen throughout history, eventually led to disputes over power and land.

• The two sides clashed, and following a ceasefire and a period of peace continued this fighting. Tensions were high as each side feared the other side would take over. 

 

• The south was granted much sovereignty after the first civil war but began to fight again because that sovereignty was being taken away by the north. 

 

• There were heated battles and many attempts to claim that genocide was occurring. The north was a lot more powerful and killed at least a couple million civilians in the south throughout the two wars.

One students' personal account of his escape from the Darfur Genocide can be viewed here.

In January 2011, a referendum took place in Southern Sudan and an overwhelming majority (98%) voted for the region to become independent.

 

Red: South Sudan, country directly above is Sudan

 

South Sudan was created as an independent state on July 9, 2011. Read its BBC country profile.

 

• Click here for an article from CNN explaining the changes Sudan was seeing because of the creation of South Sudan.

 

• Click here to read about the current Civil War in South Sudan, the world's youngest nation (2015).

 

 

 

 

Much of the violence in Darfur has been in the form of human rights violations against women . Learn more at Human Rights Watch.

This video describes some of the challenges facing female Sudanese refugees, as well as hardships Sudanese refugees of all genders face.

 

Here is a link to an article discussing the genocide

https://www.meforum.org/22/sudan-civil-war-and-genocide 

 

Sri Lanka

Ethnicity and religion play a huge role in the conflicts that have been occurring in Sri Lanka for the past 30 years.

 

The dispute here is again between the majority and minority and has again led to civil war that is continuing to rage today. The two sides are the Buddhist Sinhalese and the Hindu Tamils. The Buddhists are in the majority and are in power and the Tamils have been fighting for the creation of a separate state.

 

Again the seeds for this dispute can be traced to British colonial rule, but it should be noted that the distinction between the two sides existed long before the British rule. The sides had separate governments and each experienced autonomy.

 

During British rule, however, the Tamils were given many benefits and got much better treatment from the British than the Sinhalese. Once independence came, the Sinhalese took power and often massacred Tamils. All the benefits that may come from colonialism were given to the Tamils, and after independence the Sinhalese began taking what they felt was theirs. Civil war erupted in 1983 beginning with a series of riots and battles titled Black July [13]. The fighting continued with each side experiencing severe blows to their populations. A ceasefire occurred in 2001 and ended nearly 20 years of fierce fighting, but fighting resumed in 2005 and is going on today.

Click here to watch a short video about the roots of the Sri Lanka conflict. 

 

Kashmir

 

 

 

The dispute in Kashmir is between three sides: China, India, and Pakistan. All three countries control sections in Kashmir and have been battling for its control for decades.

Wars between China and India and between India and Pakistan erupted between the 1950s-1980s. China has pretty much relinquished their land and Pakistan seems in charge of that area. The battle now is almost completely between Pakistan and India who both feel the land is completely theirs. It is a highly contested area and the two sides have been viciously fighting for it.

The area is mostly Muslim but is ruled by India and as such has been witness to numerous battles and scores of terrorism. The deaths range in the tens of thousands and continue today. There have been several attempts at peace in the area made by both sides and several outside forces but after any peace, the fighting seems to continue.

The constant fear is that both sides have now gone nuclear and if any real war were to break out, devastating consequences could follow.

A brief history of the conflict in Kashmir can be found here.

Q&A from BBC of the Kashmir conflict.

For a general overview of the Kashmir conflict, The Economist has published an explanatory video.

A small series of photographs focusing on the lives of women living through the conflict can be viewed here.

 

 

Northern Ireland

Most ethnic and religious conflicts occurring in Northern Ireland in the mid-late 20th century and the 21st century so far have been due to the historically rooted rivalry between the Irish and the British--the conflict being a direct result of colonization.

 

• Before the British colonized the region, people of Irish-Gaelic descent were the dominant ethnic group. 
• When the British conquered Northern Ireland in the 17th century, they sent Protestant English and Scots to settle in predominantly Catholic Ireland, creating the foundation of the continuing cultural tension.

1920: the British passed the Government of Ireland Act, which divided Ireland into two separate political entities.

• Northern Ulster Protestants approved of the act.
• Southern Catholics disapproved of the act demanding a unified, independent Ireland

1921: Treaty signed creating:

• the Irish Free State composed of 23 southern counties and 3 counties in Ulster
• Northern Ireland (remaining six counties) which remained a part of the United Kingdom
• (In 1949 The Irish Free State became the independent Republic of Ireland)

Tensions between Northern Protestants and Southern Catholics somewhat eased for a few decades following the treaty.

• However, under the Protestant-dominated Stormont government which was in power from 1921-1971, Catholics began to organize against the discrimination they were experiencing. 
• Non-violent organizing was met with violent resistance, and the Nationalist Irish Republican Army (IRA) who had fought British forces in 1921 reemerged.
• Conflict erupted between the IRA and the Ulster Police and Protestant paramilitaries beginning the period in which the violence was at its peak, commonly referred to as The Troubles [7], (1968 -1998).^[1]

Some consider the situation in Northern Ireland during the latter part of the 20th century a civil war. Both sides committed numerous violent acts and engaged in tactics of terrorism and guerrilla warfare, as well as participating in attempts at diplomacy. In total, an estimated 3,700 people lost their lives during "the Troubles" (50% were civilian casualties).

On April 10, 1998 the two sides signed the Belfast Agreement and a sort of cease-fire occurred. The sides have lived in considerably less violent times since then but the tension still exists.

To learn more about the conflict and the situation in Northern Ireland since the Belfast Agreement, watch: Northern Ireland: Uneasy Peace from PBS's Frontline.

 

During the nationalist conflicts preceding 1920, a women's paramilitary group developed called Cumann na mBan.

• Today they are called "the forgotten women of the rising," because their role in the 1916 Rising is underestimated. 
• More on Cumann na mBan here.

 

The Balkans

 

 

My Home is Not Your Home: A Comparison of Human Rights Violations in Slovakia and other Countries in the 20th Century from The New York Times Learning Network (April, 2000).

The Balkans is a region in Europe comprised of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey along with a few others in past centuries. There have been several wars in the area along with a few invasions from outside forces. Nationalism has played a large role

 

in the area also, with bursts of it appearing throughout history and usually leading to some sort of battle. Since the area is comprised of so many different cultures, they often clash in attempts for power. Ethnic and religious conflicts were common in the area and in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s they reached their pinnacle with bitter fighting happening all over.

In the early 1990s Yugoslavia, which made up a significant portion of the Balkans, began to dissolve and all the groups within started to fight for power. This led to several conflicts including the major Yugoslav wars and the Kosovo war [9] . NATO [10] stepped in and proceeded to bomb Kosovo due to the discovery of ethnic cleansing occurring. This was a vile situation and it included the massacre of thousands of Bosnians and other non-Serbians at the hands of Serbia. Albanians and Croats were also being forced to leave and atrocities were performed on their population as well. NATO sent in bomb squads both during the beginning of the Yugoslav wars and during the end while the Kosovo war was happening.

The Nato bombings turned as small-scale but ugly counter insurgency operation into a massive ethnic cleansing drive. After the bombings began, Serbian soliders began driving hundreds of thousands of Albanians out of the country, and killed thousands of others. When the Albanians retuned under NATO protection, Serbian and Gypsy residents were driven out and killed. After all was said and done, Slobodan Milosevic , the leader of the Serbian troops and the man behind the massacres, was ousted as leader and arrested. He was put on trial at the Hague for war crimes and died in prison in March 2006.

 

The New York Times has published an analysis and list of informative resources as a Reader's Guide to the history of the Balkan conflict.

 

Cambodia

 

 

Click here for a documentary exploring the ruins of the Cambodian jungle and the dangers that still lie after the reign of the Khmer Rouge.  

 

From 1975 to 1979 the genocide in Cambodia killed from 1.5 to 2 million people. Those responsible were called the Khmer Rouge and led by Pol Pot. The goal of the Khmer Rouge was to create a classless society. 

 

During the Vietnam War, Cambodia was bombed by the U.S. as ordered by Richard Nixon. The U.S. went further and attempted to manipulate Cambodia politics so that more people would support Lon Nol who was pro-western. 

 

The Khmer Rouge persecuted lawyers, doctors, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and many others. There were also re-education programs that worked towards teaching people to work towards the common good of the community. If people refused the re-education program they were killed in fields, known as the killing fields. Click here to see photos of the disarray during this time. (GRAPHIC) 

 

People were divided into two categories: old citizens, which the Khmer Rouge trusted, or the new citizens. It was extremely unlikely for someone to be able to move from new citizen to old citizen. It is believed that from starvation and torture alone, the Khmer Rouge killed more than 1.7 million. 

 

The Khmer Rouge was removed from power in 1979 when Vietnam invaded. Today, it is highly contested whether or not what happened in Cambodia is classified as a genocide due to the fact that the Khmer Rouge targeted so many different people. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia worked to bring the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge to justice but were not able to obtain high ranking leaders such as Pol Pot. 

 

Click here to learn more about the complex history leading to the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam. 

 

Additional Information: 

 

Click here to learn more about International Criminal Court's investigation into U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan.