The United Nations defines ethnic cleansing as a purposeful policy designed by one ethnicity or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas. Genocide is the mass killing of a group of people in an attempt to eliminate the entire group from existence. In recent years, instances of ethnic cleansing and genocide have occurred in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Ethnic cleansing and genocide are especially important for cultural geography because they change the spatial distribution of ethnicities, and they do so through force and criminal violence. These violent and calculated processes are undertaken to rid an area of an entire ethnicity so that the surviving ethnic group can be the sole inhabitants of an ethnically homogeneous region. The point is not simply to defeat an enemy or to subjugate them, as was the case in traditional wars. Rather than a clash between armies of male soldiers, ethnic cleansing and genocide involve the removal of every member of the less powerful ethnicity—women as well as men, children as well as adults, the frail elderly as well as the strong youth.

Past Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide: World War II Europe

In Europe, the largest number of people impacted by ethnic cleansing and genocide occurred before, during, and immediately after World War II (1939–1945). The Nazis deported and then exterminated around 17 million people; 6 million were Jews, including 1 million children. One-third of the world’s Jewish population and two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population died.

After World War II ended, millions of ethnic Germans, Poles, Russians, and other groups were forced to migrate as a result of boundary changes. For example, when a portion of eastern Germany became part of Poland, the Germans living in the region were forced to move west to Germany, and Poles were allowed to move into the area. Similarly, Poles were forced to move when the eastern portion of Poland was turned over to the Soviet Union.

Forced Migration of ethnicities after World War II

The largest number were Poles forced to move from territory occupied by the Soviet Union (now Russia), Germans forced to migrate from territory taken over by Poland and the Soviet Union, and Russians forced to return to the Soviet Union from Western Europe.

Contemporary Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide: Myanmar

Asia’s most extreme example of ethnic cleansing and genocide in recent years has been in Myanmar, a country of 54 million inhabitants. The attacks have been directed against the Rohingya, an ethnic group living in Myanmar’s far western Rakhine State. Rakhine is the poorest State in Myanmar, which in turn is one of the world’s poorest countries.

Ethnic Cleansing of the Rohingya

Ethnically cleansed Rohingya are forced to migrate to Bangladesh.

The Rohingya are predominantly Sunni Muslims who speak an Indo-European language. In contrast, the largest number of people in Myanmar are Theravada Buddhists who speak Sino-Tibetan languages.

Most Rohingya migrated in the nineteenth century from present-day Bangladesh to present-day Myanmar, when both were British colonies. The Myanmar government claims that because the Rohingya immigrated during the British colonial era, they are living in Myanmar illegally. In 1982, the Myanmar government enacted laws that took away the Rohingya’s citizenship, land, and rights to attend school and hold jobs.

In 2016, Rohingya attacked some police and military posts. In retaliation, the Myanmar military launched a massive ethnic cleansing operation against the Rohingya. The pretext was to eliminate the group that had attacked the police and military, but the United Nations concluded that more than 1 million Rohingya have been ethnically cleansed. Their villages have been destroyed, and they have been forced to move from Rakhine to other countries, primarily Bangladesh

Destinations of ethnically cleansed of the Rohingya as of 2018

Pause & Reflect 7.4.1

Search online for information on the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar. Do descriptions of the recent forced migration of Rohingya people suggest to you that the Myanmar military has engaged in genocide? Explain.