Ethnic cleansing (or ethnic cleansing, racial cleaning, or re-ethnification) is the forced removal of members of a particular group from their homes, their land, or their place of residence. The term is often used to refer specifically to the mass expulsion of a group that is defined by ethnicity or religion, though it has been applied in other ways. The precise definition of the crime of ethnic cleansing has been a matter of some debate, including within the United Nations, and in the context of the two ad hoc international tribunals that prosecuted violations of humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as well as the International Criminal Court that began sittings in 2002.
The ICJ has stated that ethnic cleansing consists of ‘the deliberate policy of one group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.’ (Mazowiecki Third Report I, para 9). However, the range of techniques that can be considered to constitute ethnic cleansing is vast and defies conclusive circumscription. Moreover, the ‘deliberate policy’ referred to by the Commission of Experts includes a wide variety of indirect discriminatory measures, such as the destruction of villages and property; work restrictions; restrictions on access to education, housing, medicine, food or humanitarian aid; prohibitions on ethnic associations or use of minority languages; and political violence in the form of pogroms (Preece [1998] 822).
The expression ‘ethnic cleansing’ has at times been criticized for serving as a euphemism for genocide, as it may prevent adequate public recognition of a situation of genocide and thus hinder decisive action by international actors. Nonetheless, the concept has acquired significant legal significance since it was included alongside genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the scope of the responsibility to protect.
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