Ethnic Conflict, Mass Killings,

Genocide and International Security

Mohammad Atique Rahman
Assistant Professor

The Road Map:

What is Ethnic Conflict?
Why Mass killings and Genocide Happened?
Global Trend of Mass Killing and Genocide
Impacts on International Security
International Response
The future trends

Setting the Context

Today, ethnic conflict is one of the internationally

recognized major social conflicts.
After 1945 till 1988 there were 111 ethnic conflicts in which
63 were internal matters and 36 were war of state
formation i.e. autonomy.
Till now 122 ethnic wars have been reported which caused
16.5 million people have died in internal conflicts,
compared with 3.3 million in interstate wars.
Results: Human loss, widespread refugee dislocations and
economic devastation.
Dragging countries to engage into a regional warfare.
Pose significant threats to international peace and security.

What is Ethnic Conflict

Anethnic conflictorethnic waris an armed conflict betweenethnic groups. It

contrasts withcivil waron one hand (where a single nation or ethnic group is
fighting among itself) and regularwarfareon the other, where two or more
sovereign states (which may or may not benation states) are in conflict.
Primordialist accounts: Proponents of primordialist accounts of ethnic
conflict argue that [e]thnic groups and nationalities exist because there are
traditions of belief and action towards primordial objects such as biological
features and especially territorial location. [1]The primordialist account relies
on a concept of kinship between members of an ethnic group.
Instrumentalist accounts: Ethnicity issue is used as cultural identity as
sites of mass mobilization and as constituencies in their competition for
power and resources, because they found them more effective than social
classes.
Constructivist accounts: Ethnicity is a mechanism by which knowledge is
internalized by learners. He suggested that through processes
ofaccommodationandassimilation, individuals construct new knowledge
from their experiences.

Manifestations Ethnic Conflict

A. Methods for eliminating differences:
Genocide
Forcedmass-population transfers
Partitionand/orsecession(self-determination)
Integrationand/orassimilation
B. Methods for managing differences:
Hegemonic control
Arbitration(third-party intervention)
Cantonisationand/orfederalisation
Consociationalismor power-sharing

What is Genocide

Genocide, a term used to describe violence against

members of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group
with the intent to destroy the entire group.
In 1948, the United Nations declared genocide to be an
international crime; the term would later be applied to the
horrific acts of violence committed during conflicts in the
former Yugoslavia and in the African country of Rwanda in
the 1990s.

Ethnic Conflict in Bosnia

In 1992, the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its

independence from Yugoslavia, and Bosnian Serb leaders targeted
both Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croatian civilians for atrocious
crimes resulting in the deaths of some 100,000 people by 1995.

Ethnic Conflict in Rwanda

From April to mid-July 1994, members of the Hutu majority

in Rwanda murdered some 800,000 people, mostly of the
Tutsi minority, with horrifying brutality and speed.

800,000 men, women, and children Tutsis were killed in one

week in 1994 (from 6-14 April) in Rwanda. 2,00,000 Hutu were
the perpetrators

Global Trend of Mass Killing and Genocide

Increasing rate of human deaths!

Winning the battles and losing the

wars

Implications to Global Peace and Security

Humanitarian Crisis: NATO intervened in Kosovo in 1998-99

to end Serbs atrocities against Albanian Muslims.
Child Soldiers: 250,000 involved in Ethnic Conflict
Conflict Economy: Blood Diamond
An Agenda for Peace by Boutros Ghali
1998 formation of International Criminal Court-ICC

International Response: Divided Opinion: Polarization

Future Trends:

Sluggish response: Kurdistan, Syria, Egypt and Libya.

UN Robust Peacekeeping: Third Generation P.K.
Peacebuilding to prevent recurrence of violence
Regional P.K: OAU, NATO
Humanitarian Intervention