Ethnic cleansing (also known as ‘ethnic purification’, ‘cleansing et spécifique’ or ‘nettoyage éthnique’) is a policy carried out by a State aimed at removing from its territory the population of certain ethnic groups. This process is accompanied by destruction or deportation of property and may also involve forcible relocations. Ethnic cleansing is an extremely serious form of human rights abuse and can amount to a violation of the right to self-determination of a people.
The concept has been denounced at various international fora. The UN General Assembly, for example, condemned the use of this term in reference to hostilities in Yugoslavia in 1992 and reaffirmed that ethnic cleansing constitutes a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. The term has been frequently used by the international media and is also found in a number of treaty instruments.
However, there is no universally accepted legal definition of the term. The Commission of Experts’ First Interim Report defined ethnic cleansing as ‘a purposeful policy designed by one or more ethnic or religious [emphasis added] groups to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas’.
This definition is broadly consistent with the terms of the Genocide Convention. However, it does not include the requirement of specific intent as required by Article II(c) of that Convention. Moreover, the Commission of Experts also included in its list of techniques that can be employed in the implementation of a policy of ethnic cleansing the destruction of property, confinement of populations in ghetto areas, murder, torture and other inhumane acts and cruel treatment including sexual violence, arbitrary detention, rape and other forms of physical or mental abuse and the wanton use of weapons.
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