Explain the crime of genocide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Explain the crime of genocide - Essay Example The word was however first used in the context of crime in judgment of cases starting with the Justice Case. Initially genocide was considered as a sub-category of crime as it included intentional killing of groups of human beings, destruction or extermination of the groups of individuals. Considering the perspective of the Genocide Convention of 1948, the understanding of the crime of genocide had become significantly narrower than what is crime considered as against humanity (Aydin n.d.). Genocide has been distinctly distinguished as a crime from the other crimes that occur against humanity. The key difference of genocide with other crimes lies in the deliberate intention to kill or eliminate sections of human beings from the society by killing. Such intent to destroy includes the intention to eliminate national, religious, or ethnic groups of people. As these acts represent crimes against humanity, hence genocide is also sometimes considered as a sub-category of crimes against hum anity (Aydin n.d.). Aim of the Study: The aim of the present study is to focus and understand the crime of genocide, considering cases where such acts have taken place, and studying the existing laws and legislations against such acts of crime against humanity. ... Literature Review: The Origins: Although the term genocide has been given to the act of the killing groups and masses of people over the recent years, studies reveal that the origins of such an act can be dated back to millions of years ago. However the historical records that are available about the genocide in earlier times are not dependable for the purpose of research. In the early times, genocides were acted upon not only to remove certain sections of people, or ethnic groups from the society, but also to exploit few of such members of the group being eliminated. Males were the mostly killed ones including smaller children (The Origins of Genocide n.d.). Ancient wars represent cases of genocides of selective people considering the gender of the people and killing them in masses. Examples of such acts of genocides during the ancient times include the destructions caused by the Assyrian Empire during the first millennium of the BCE. The destruction of Melos by the Athens also pres ented gendercidal rampage during the time of the Peloponnesian War. The first genocide that was recorded by Ben Kiernan was the siege of the Roman and ultimate destruction of Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War. However there has been significant debate on these issues and also on the designation set for the first genocide that as recorded (The Origins of Genocide n.d.). The Crime of Genocide: UN Convention: The term genocide has been derived from a combination of two individual terms – ‘genos’ which is a Greek word meaning a group or a tribe, and ‘cide’ representing the Latin word meaning killing. This term was first used in the year 1944 when Lemkin used it in his written book to explain the policies of extermination practiced by the Third Reich and its associates.