101-513: [REDACTED] Look up cleansing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Cleansing may refer to: Ethnic cleansing , the systematic forced removal of ethnic or religious groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group Cleanliness , the abstract state of being clean and free from dirt, and the process of achieving and maintaining that state Data cleansing , in data management,
202-579: A Greater Serbia )". He assumes that the Serbian policy changed from conservative–socialist at the beginning to xenophobic nationalist in the late 1980s and 1990s. In Serbia and Serb-dominated territories, violent confrontations occurred, particularly between nationalists and non-nationalists who criticized the Serbian government and the Serb political entities in Bosnia and Croatia. Serbs who publicly opposed
303-475: A genocide by several authors, and they also supported the instatement of a Serbian monarchy and the establishment of a Yugoslav federation. The Communist -led Yugoslav Partisans were able to appeal to all groups, including Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks, and also engaged in mass killings. In 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was established under Josip Broz Tito , who maintained
404-504: A highway attack between Pristina and Mitrovica, and arrested more than 100 Albanian militants. Adem Jashari, as one of the founders and leaders of the KLA, was convicted of terrorism in absentia by a Yugoslav court on 11 July 1997. Human Rights Watch subsequently described the trial, in which fourteen other Kosovo Albanians were also convicted, as "[failing] to conform to international standards". The NATO North Atlantic Council claimed
505-617: A lesser extent, Croatian populations in Bosnia-Hercegovina". A telegram sent to the White House on 8 February 1994 by U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, Peter W. Galbraith , stated that genocide was occurring. The telegram cited "constant and indiscriminate shelling and gunfire" of Sarajevo by Karadzic's Yugoslav People Army; the harassment of minority groups in Northern Bosnia "in an attempt to force them to leave"; and
606-537: A massive number of deaths as well as severe economic damage to the region. During the initial stages of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) sought to preserve the unity of the Yugoslav nation by eradicating all republic governments. However, it increasingly came under the influence of Slobodan Milošević , whose government invoked Serbian nationalism as an ideological replacement for
707-694: A multi-party system, Serbia, led by Milošević, demanded an even more centralized federation and Serbia's dominant role in it. At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in January 1990, the Serbian -dominated assembly agreed to abolish the single-party system. However, Slobodan Milošević, the head of the Serbian Party branch ( League of Communists of Serbia ) used his influence to block and vote down all other proposals from
808-493: A people." William Schabas states "ethnic cleansing is also a warning sign of genocide to come. Genocide is the last resort of the frustrated ethnic cleanser." Multiple genocide scholars have criticized distinguishing between ethnic cleansing and genocide , with Martin Shaw arguing that forced deportation necessarily results in the destruction of a group and this must be foreseen by the perpetrators. The resettlement policy of
909-565: A policy they called "territorial cleansing" to "drain" the Chouf of Maronite Christians in order to deny them of resisting the advance of the PSP. As a result, 163,670 Christian villagers were displaced due to these operations. In response to these massacres, the Lebanese Forces conducted a similar policy, which resulted in 20,000 Druze displaced. Ethnic cleansing was a common phenomenon in
1010-443: A song by Overkill from the album The Killing Kind Zachistka ("cleansing operation"), Russian term for house-to-house operations to cleanse a territory from enemy military forces See also [ edit ] Cleaning (disambiguation) Cleanliness The Cleansing (disambiguation) Ritual purification Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
1111-562: A strongly authoritarian leadership that suppressed nationalism . After Tito's death in 1980, relations between the six republics of the federation deteriorated. Slovenia , Croatia and Kosovo desired greater autonomy within the Yugoslav confederation, while Serbia sought to strengthen federal authority. As it became clear that there was no solution that was agreeable to all parties, Slovenia and Croatia moved towards independence . Although tensions in Yugoslavia had been mounting since
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#17327654383271212-475: A substantial Muslim minority. Clear ethnic conflict between the Yugoslav peoples only became prominent in the 20th century, beginning with tensions over the constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in the early 1920s and escalating into violence between Serbs and Croats in the late 1920s after the assassination of Croatian politician Stjepan Radić . This nation lasted from 1918 to 1941, when it
1313-581: A three-month moratorium on separation. The Federal Army completely withdrew from Slovenia by 26 October 1991. Fighting in Croatia had begun weeks prior to the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. The Croatian War of Independence began when Serbs in Croatia , who were opposed to Croatian independence , announced their secession from Croatia. In the 1990 parliamentary elections in Croatia, Franjo Tuđman became
1414-495: A three-month moratorium was placed on the implementation of the decision that ended on 8 October. The armed incidents of early 1991 escalated into an all-out war during the summer, with fronts being formed around the areas of the breakaway SAO Krajina. The JNA had disarmed the Territorial Units of Slovenia and Croatia prior to the declaration of independence, at the behest of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević. This
1515-458: Is a more appropriate term. Circassian genocide, also known as " Tsitsekun ", is often regarded by various historians as the first large-scale ethnic cleansing campaign launched by a state during the 19th century industrial era . Imperial Russian general Nikolay Yevdakimov , who supervised the operations of Circassian genocide during 1860s, dehumanised Muslim Circassians as "a pestilence" to be expelled from their native lands. Russian objective
1616-452: Is considered by some authors to be one of the first episodes of state-sponsored ethnic cleansing in the modern western world. Raphael Lemkin , who coined the term "genocide", considered the displacement of Native Americans by American settlers as a historical example of genocide. Others, like historian Gary Anderson, contend that genocide does not accurately characterize any aspect of American history, suggesting instead that ethnic cleansing
1717-401: Is intended to displace a persecuted population from a given territory, while genocide is intended to destroy a group. Some academics consider genocide to be a subset of "murderous ethnic cleansing". Norman Naimark writes that these concepts are different but related, for "literally and figuratively, ethnic cleansing bleeds into genocide, as mass murder is committed in order to rid the land of
1818-851: Is no international treaty that specifies a specific crime of ethnic cleansing; however, ethnic cleansing in the broad sense—the forcible deportation of a population—is defined as a crime against humanity under the statutes of both the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The gross human rights violations integral to stricter definitions of ethnic cleansing are treated as separate crimes falling under public international law of crimes against humanity and in certain circumstances genocide . There are also situations, such as
1919-462: Is strongly related to the creation of democracies. He argues that murderous ethnic cleansing is due to the rise of nationalism , which associates citizenship with a specific ethnic group . Democracy, therefore, is tied to ethnic and national forms of exclusion. Nevertheless, it is not democratic states that are more prone to commit ethnic cleansing, because minorities tend to have constitutional guarantees. Neither are stable authoritarian regimes (except
2020-416: Is the systematic forced removal of ethnic , racial , or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous . Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer , it also includes indirect methods aimed at forced migration by coercing the victim group to flee and preventing its return, such as murder, rape, and property destruction. Both
2121-646: Is usually directed by states or other authoritative powers, perpetrators are usually state powers or institutions with some coherence and capacity, not failed states as it is generally perceived. The perpetrator powers tend to get support by core constituencies that favour combinations of nationalism , statism , and violence. Ethnic cleansing was prevalent during the Age of Nationalism in Europe (19th and 20th centuries). Multi-ethnic European engaged in ethnic cleansing against minorities in order to pre-empt their secession and
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#17327654383272222-416: Is virtually indistinguishable from forced emigration and population exchange while at the other it merges with deportation and genocide. At the most general level, however, ethnic cleansing can be understood as the expulsion of a population from a given territory." Terry Martin has defined ethnic cleansing as "the forcible removal of an ethnically defined population from a given territory" and as "occupying
2323-700: The 1982 Lebanon War such as the Sabra and Shatila Massacre committed by Lebanese Maronite forces backed by Israel against Palestinian refugees and Lebanese Shia civilians. After the Israeli withdrawal from the Chouf, the Mountain War broke out, where ethnic cleansings (mostly in the form of tit-for-tat killings) occurred. During that time, the Syrian backed, mostly Druze dominated People's Liberation Army used
2424-466: The Bosniaks , who wanted to preserve the territorial integrity of the newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina , and the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb proto-state Republika Srpska and the self-proclaimed Croat Herzeg-Bosnia , which were led and supplied by Serbia and Croatia respectively, reportedly with a goal of the partition of Bosnia , which would leave only a small part of land for
2525-690: The Croatian and Slovene party delegates. This prompted the Croatian and Slovene delegations to walk out and thus the break-up of the party, a symbolic event representing the end of " brotherhood and unity ". The survey of Yugoslav citizens that was conducted in 1990 showed that ethnic animosity existed on a small scale. Compared to the results from 25 years before, there was a significant increase in ethnic distance among Serbs and Montenegrins toward Croats and Slovenes and vice versa. Upon Croatia and Slovenia's declarations of independence in 1991,
2626-563: The Kosovo Serbs in the 1980s, and entered widespread use during the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s. Since then, the term has gained widespread acceptance due to journalism. Although research originally focused on deep-rooted animosities as an explanation for ethnic cleansing events, more recent studies depict ethnic cleansing as "a natural extension of the homogenizing tendencies of nation states " or emphasize security concerns and
2727-692: The Socialist Republic of Serbia , Kosovo's autonomy suffered and so the region was faced with state-organized oppression: from the early 1990s, Albanian language radio and television were restricted and newspapers shut down. Kosovar Albanians were fired in large numbers from public enterprises and institutions, including banks, hospitals, the post office and schools. In June 1991, the University of Priština assembly and several faculty councils were dissolved and replaced by Serbs. Kosovar Albanian teachers were prevented from entering school premises for
2828-409: The expulsion of Germans after World War II , where ethnic cleansing has taken place without legal redress (see Preussische Treuhand v. Poland ). Timothy v. Waters argues that similar ethnic cleansing could go unpunished in the future. Mutual ethnic cleansing occurs when two groups commit ethnic cleansing against minority members of the other group within their own territories. For instance in
2929-513: The genocidal massacres they committed against Bosniaks and Croats between 1941 and 1945. The Russian phrase очистка границ ( ochistka granits ; lit. "cleansing of borders") was used in Soviet documents of the early 1930s to refer to the forced resettlement of Polish people from the 22-kilometre (14 mi) border zone in the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs . This process of
3030-611: The population transfer in the Soviet Union was repeated on an even larger scale in 1939–1941, involving many other groups suspected of disloyalty. In its complete form, the term appeared for the first time in the Romanian language ( purificare etnică ) in an address by Vice Prime Minister Mihai Antonescu to cabinet members in July 1941. After the beginning of the invasion by the Soviet Union , he concluded: "I do not know when
3131-681: The 1920s, Turkey expelled its Greek minority and Greece expelled its Turkish minority following the Greco-Turkish War . Other examples where mutual ethnic cleansing occurred include the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the population transfers by the Soviets of Germans, Poles, and Ukrainians after World War II . According to Michael Mann , in The Dark Side of Democracy (2004), murderous ethnic cleansing
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3232-517: The 1992 referendum on independence. They failed to persuade people not to vote, and instead the intimidating atmosphere combined with a Serb boycott of the vote resulted in a resounding 99% vote in support for independence. On 19 June 1992, the war in Bosnia broke out, though the Siege of Sarajevo had already begun in April after Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence. The conflict, typified by
3333-467: The 2022 Ukraine war. The areas of "Sector East", unaffected by the Croatian military operations, came under UN administration ( UNTAES ), and were reintegrated to Croatia in 1998 under the terms of the Erdut Agreement . On 2 April 1992, a conflict engulfed Bosnia and Herzegovina as it also declared independence from rump Yugoslavia. The war was predominantly a territorial conflict between
3434-700: The Balkans 1941–1945 , the ethnically mixed region of Dalmatia held close and amicable relations between the Croats and Serbs who lived there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many early proponents of a united Yugoslavia came from this region, such as Ante Trumbić , a Croat from Dalmatia. However, by the time of the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, any hospitable relations between Croats and Serbs in Dalmatia had broken down, with Dalmatian Serbs fighting on
3535-694: The Bosniaks. On 18 December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 47/121 in which it condemned Serbian and Montenegrin forces for trying to acquire more territories by force. The Yugoslav armed forces had disintegrated into a largely Serb-dominated military force. The JNA opposed the Bosnian-majority led government's agenda for independence, and along with other armed nationalist Serb militant forces attempted to prevent Bosnian citizens from voting in
3636-633: The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina required the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska to recognize all "constituent peoples" as entitled to full equality throughout the nation. Similarly, Article X of the constitution declares that the rights and freedoms defined in Article II may not be altered. Features like these are common throughout the constitution in order to assuage feelings of mistrust between
3737-592: The Croatian Army and the combined Bosnian and Croat forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted an operation codenamed Operation Mistral in September 1995 to push back Bosnian Serb military gains. The advances on the ground along with NATO air strikes put pressure on the Bosnian Serbs to come to the negotiating table. Pressure was put on all sides to stick to the cease-fire and negotiate an end to
3838-566: The JNA's advance into Slavonia. By the end of October, the town was almost completely devastated as a result of land shelling and air bombardment. The Siege of Dubrovnik started in October with the shelling of UNESCO World Heritage Site Dubrovnik , where the international press was criticised for focusing on the city's architectural heritage, instead of reporting the destruction of Vukovar in which many civilians were killed. On 18 November 1991,
3939-521: The JNA. By mid-July 1991, the JNA moved an estimated 70,000 troops to Croatia. The fighting rapidly escalated, eventually spanning hundreds of square kilometers from western Slavonia through Banija to Dalmatia. Border regions faced direct attacks from forces within Serbia and Montenegro. In August 1991, the Battle of Vukovar began, where fierce fighting took place with around 1,800 Croat fighters blocking
4040-445: The KLA undertook a series of attacks against police stations and Yugoslav government employees, saying that the Yugoslav authorities had killed Albanian civilians as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign. On 22 April 1996, four attacks on Serbian security personnel were carried out almost simultaneously in several parts of Kosovo. In January 1997, Serbian security forces assassinated KLA commander Zahir Pajaziti and two other leaders in
4141-516: The KLA was "the main initiator of the violence" and that it had "launched what appears to be a deliberate campaign of provocation". Pursuing Jashari for the murder of a Serb policeman, the Serbian forces again attempted to assault the Jashari compound in Prekaz on 22 January 1998. Between 1991 and 1997, mostly in 1996–97, 39 persons were killed by the KLA. Attacks between 1996 and February 1998 led to
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4242-476: The KLA. The KLA sought to destabilize the region, hoping the United States and NATO would intervene. Serbian patrols were ambushed and policemen were killed. It was only in the next year that the KLA organization took responsibility for these attacks. The KLA, originally composed of a few hundred Albanians, attacked several police stations and wounded many police officers in 1996–1997. In February 1996
4343-703: The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 9th and 7th centuries BC is considered by some scholars to be one of the first cases of ethnic cleansing. During the 1980s, in Lebanon , ethnic cleansing was common during all phases of the conflict, notable incidents were seen in the early phase of the war, such as the Damour massacre , the Karantina massacre , the Siege of the Tel al-Zaatar Palestinian refugee camp , and during
4444-718: The Romanians will have such chance for ethnic cleansing." In the 1980s, the Soviets used the term "etnicheskoye chishcheniye" which literally translates to "ethnic cleansing" to describe Azerbaijani efforts to drive Armenians away from Nagorno-Karabakh . It was widely popularized by the Western media during the Bosnian War (1992–1995). In 1992, the German equivalent of ethnic cleansing ( German : ethnische Säuberung , pronounced [ˈʔɛtnɪʃə ˈzɔɪ̯bəʁʊŋ] )
4545-645: The Serbs; and Herzeg-Bosnia by the Croats). Survivors of the ethnic cleansing were left severely traumatized as a consequence of this campaign. Israeli herders have engaged in a systemic displacement of Palestinian herders in Area C of the West Bank as a form of nationalist and economic warfare. When enforced as part of a political settlement, as happened with the expulsion of Germans after World War II through
4646-567: The Yugoslav Wars, such as " Greater Albania " (from Kosovo , idea abandoned following international diplomacy) and " Greater Croatia " (from parts of Herzegovina , abandoned in 1994 with the Washington Agreement ). Often described as one of Europe's deadliest armed conflicts since World War II , the Yugoslav Wars were marked by many war crimes , including genocide , crimes against humanity , ethnic cleansing , massacres , and mass wartime rape . The Bosnian genocide
4747-537: The Yugoslav federal government attempted to forcibly halt the impending breakup of the country , with Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Marković declaring that the secessions of Slovenia and Croatia were both illegal and contrary to the constitution of Yugoslavia, and he also expressed his support for the Yugoslav People's Army in order to secure the integral unity of Yugoslavia. The Slovenes (represented by Milan Kučan and Lojze Peterle ) and Croats argued that
4848-480: The act was not secession but disassociation ( Slovene : razdruževanje , Croatian : razdruživanje ) from Yugoslavia as the federation was originally established as a voluntary union of peoples. The Badinter Commission ruled in November 1991 that the act was not secession but a separation as provided for by the constitution of the second Yugoslavia. According to Stephen A. Hart, author of Partisans: War in
4949-591: The actions of all participants in the Balkan Wars contained various new terms to describe brutalities committed toward ethnic groups. During the Holocaust in World War II , Nazi Germany pursued a policy of ensuring that Europe was "cleaned of Jews" ( judenrein ). The Nazi Generalplan Ost called for the genocide and ethnic cleansing of most Slavic people in central and eastern Europe for
5050-563: The alleged ethnic cleansing and its allies have fiercely disputed the charge. Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related ethnic conflicts , wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia). The conflicts both led up to and resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia , which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching
5151-735: The attacks that were coming from the UÇPMB. The insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia was an armed conflict in the northwestern part of the country which began when the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) militant group began attacking the security forces of the Republic of Macedonia at the end of January 2001, and ended with the Ohrid Agreement in August. The goal of the NLA
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#17327654383275252-410: The battle of Vukovar ended after the city ran out of ammunition. The Ovčara massacre occurred shortly after Vukovar's capture by the JNA. Meanwhile, control over central Croatia was seized by Croatian Serb forces in conjunction with the JNA Corps from Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the leadership of Ratko Mladić . In January 1992, the Vance Plan established UN controlled (UNPA) zones for Serbs in
5353-427: The central part of a continuum between genocide on one end and nonviolent pressured ethnic emigration on the other end." Gregory Stanton , the founder of Genocide Watch , has criticised the rise of the term and its use for events that he feels should be called "genocide": because "ethnic cleansing" has no legal definition, its media use can detract attention from events that should be prosecuted as genocide. There
5454-432: The communist leadership was divided along national lines. The representatives of Vojvodina , Kosovo and Montenegro were replaced with loyalists of the President of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević . Serbia secured four out of eight federal presidency votes and was able to heavily influence decision-making at the federal level, since all the other Yugoslav republics only had one vote. While Slovenia and Croatia wanted to allow
5555-402: The conflict in which the Yugoslav government requested KFOR support in suppressing UÇPMB attacks, since the government could only use lightly armed military forces as part of the Kumanovo Agreement, which created a buffer zone so the bulk of the Yugoslav armed forces could not enter. Yugoslav president Vojislav Koštunica warned that fresh fighting would erupt if KFOR units did not act to prevent
5656-413: The conflicts. According to the International Center for Transitional Justice , the Yugoslav Wars resulted in the deaths of 140,000 people, while the Humanitarian Law Center estimates at least 130,000 casualties. Over their decade-long duration, the conflicts resulted in major refugee and humanitarian crises. In 2006 the Central European free trade agreement ( CEFTA ) was expanded to include many of
5757-422: The deaths of 10 policemen and 24 civilians. A NATO -facilitated ceasefire between the KLA and Yugoslav forces was signed on 15 October 1998, but both sides broke it two months later and fighting resumed. When the killing of 45 Kosovar Albanians in the Račak massacre was reported in January 1999, NATO decided that the conflict could only be settled by introducing a military peacekeeping force to forcibly restrain
5858-421: The definition and charge of ethnic cleansing is often disputed, with some researchers including and others excluding coercive assimilation or mass killings as a means of depopulating an area of a particular group. Although scholars do not agree on which events constitute ethnic cleansing, many instances have occurred throughout history. The term was first used to describe Albanian nationalist treatment of
5959-422: The detection and correction of corrupt or inaccurate records Social cleansing , the elimination of "undesirable" social elements Detoxification (alternative medicine) or body cleansing, is a disputed alternative medical practice Colon cleansing , an alternative medicine involving the use of enemas and diets, often as part of detoxification Cleansing (album) , an album by Prong "The Cleansing",
6060-456: The different ethnic groups and maintain lasting stability. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States reported in April 1995 (three months before Srebrenica massacre ) that nearly 90 percent of all the atrocities in the Yugoslav wars up to that point had been perpetrated by Serb militants. Most of these atrocities occurred in Bosnia . After September 1990 when the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution had been unilaterally repealed by
6161-420: The early 1980s, events in 1990 proved to be decisive. In the midst of economic hardship and the fall of communism in eastern Europe in 1989, Yugoslavia was facing rising nationalism among its various ethnic groups. By the early 1990s, there was no effective authority at the federal level. The Federal Presidency consisted of the representatives of the six republics, two provinces and the Yugoslav People's Army, and
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#17327654383276262-419: The effects of democratization , portraying ethnic tensions as a contributing factor. Research has also focused on the role of war as a causative or potentiating factor in ethnic cleansing. However, states in a similar strategic situation can have widely varying policies towards minority ethnic groups perceived as a security threat. Ethnic cleansing has no legal definition under international criminal law , but
6363-409: The end of 1992, tensions between Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks rose and their collaboration fell apart. In January 1993, the two former allies engaged in open conflict, resulting in the Croat–Bosniak War . In 1994 the US brokered peace between Croatian forces and the Bosnian Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Washington Agreement . After the successful Flash and Storm operations,
6464-443: The end of these operations, Croatia had reclaimed all of its territory except the UNPA Sector East portion of Slavonia, bordering Serbia. During and after theses offensives, around 150,000–200,000 Serbs of the area formerly held by the ARSK were ethically cleansed and a variety of crimes were committed against some of the remaining civilians by Croatian forces. The Croatian Serbs became the largest refugee population in Europe prior to
6565-443: The escalation of the Yugoslav crisis, the JNA became heavily dominated by Serbs. According to the former commander of the fifth army in Zagreb Martin Špegelj , 50% of the command positions were previously held by Croats, while a few years later at the beginning of the war all key positions were held by Serbs. The first of the conflicts, known as the Ten-Day War, was initiated by the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) on 26 June 1991 after
6666-436: The first President of Croatia . He promoted nationalist policies and had a primary goal of the establishment of an independent Croatia. The new government proposed constitutional changes , reinstated the traditional Croatian flag and coat of arms , and removed the term "Socialist" from the title of the republic. The new Croatian government implemented policies that were openly nationalistic and anti-Serbian in nature, such as
6767-402: The first armed clashes between Serb paramilitaries and Croatian police occurred in the Battle of Borovo Selo . On 19 May an independence referendum was held, which was largely boycotted by Croatian Serbs , and the majority voted in favour of the independence of Croatia. Croatia declared independence and dissolved its association with Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. Due to the Brioni Agreement ,
6868-525: The forced resettlement of ethnic Germans to Germany in its reduced borders after 1945, the forced population movements, constituting a type of ethnic cleansing, may contribute to long-term stability of a post-conflict nation. Some justifications may be made as to why the targeted group will be moved in the conflict resolution stages, as in the case of the ethnic Germans, some individuals of the large German population in Czechoslovakia and prewar Poland had encouraged Nazi jingoism before World War II, but this
6969-574: The former Yugoslavia ] " 'ethnic cleansing' has been carried out by means of murder, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention , extra-judicial executions, rape and sexual assaults, confinement of civilian population in ghetto areas, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilian population, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas, and wanton destruction of property. Those practices constitute crimes against humanity and can be assimilated to specific war crimes . Furthermore, such acts could also fall within
7070-406: The growing Serbian insurgency, while many government employees, mostly police where commanding positions were mainly held by Serbs, lost their jobs. The new Croatian constitution was ratified in December 1990, and the Serb National Council formed SAO Krajina , a self-proclaimed Serbian autonomous region. Ethnic tensions rose, fueled by propaganda in both Croatia and Serbia. On 2 May 1991, one of
7171-412: The loss of territory. Ethnic cleansing was particularly prevalent during periods of interstate war. Ethnic cleansing has been described as part of a continuum of violence whose most extreme form is genocide . Ethnic cleansing is similar to forced deportation or population transfer . While ethnic cleansing and genocide may share the same goal and methods (e.g., forced displacement ), ethnic cleansing
7272-508: The meaning of the Genocide Convention . The official United Nations definition of ethnic cleansing is "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group." As a category, ethnic cleansing encompasses a continuum or spectrum of policies. In the words of Andrew Bell-Fialkoff , "ethnic cleansing ... defies easy definition. At one end it
7373-602: The methods by which it is carried out are considered crimes against humanity and may also fall under the Genocide Convention . An antecedent to the term is the Greek word andrapodismos ( ἀνδραποδισμός ; lit. "enslavement"), which was used in ancient texts. e.g., to describe atrocities that accompanied Alexander the Great 's conquest of Thebes in 335 BCE . The expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain between 1609 and 1614
7474-711: The military protection of the Kosovo Force (KFOR). The 15-month war had left thousands of civilians killed on both sides and over a million displaced. The Insurgency in the Preševo Valley was an armed conflict between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and ethnic-Albanian insurgents of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB), beginning in June 1999. There were instances during
7575-489: The nationalist political climate during the Yugoslav wars were reportedly harassed, threatened, or killed. However, following Milošević's rise to power and the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, numerous anti-war movements developed in Serbia. Protests were held against the actions of the Yugoslav People's Army, while protesters demanded the referendum on a declaration of war and disruption of military conscription , resulting in numerous desertions and emigrations. With
7676-435: The nazi and communist regimes) which are likely perpetrators of murderous ethnic cleansing, but those regimes that are in process of democratization. Ethnic hostility appears where ethnicity overshadows social classes as the primordial system of social stratification. Usually, in deeply divided societies, categories such as class and ethnicity are deeply intertwined, and when an ethnic group is seen as oppressor or exploitative of
7777-484: The new school year beginning in September 1991, forcing students to study at home. In the 1990s, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was formed. They started carrying out attacks on Serb civilians. By the early 1990s, there were attacks on Serbian police forces and secret-service officials in retaliation for the abuse and murder of Albanian civilians. A Serbian policeman was killed in 1995, allegedly by
7878-426: The other, serious ethnic conflict can develop. Michael Mann holds that when two ethnic groups claim sovereignty over the same territory and can feel threatened, their differences can lead to severe grievances and danger of ethnic cleansing. The perpetration of murderous ethnic cleansing tends to occur in unstable geopolitical environments and in contexts of war. As ethnic cleansing requires high levels of organisation and
7979-657: The peacekeepers by force, using this refusal to justify the bombings. The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia followed, an intervention against Serbian forces with a mainly bombing campaign, under the command of General Wesley Clark . Hostilities ended 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 months later with the Kumanovo Agreement . Kosovo was placed under the governmental control of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo and
8080-409: The previous Yugoslav republics. In order to show that despite the political conflicts economic cooperation was still possible. CEFTA went into full effect by the end of 2007. The Yugoslav Wars have alternatively been referred to as: The state of Yugoslavia was created in the aftermath of World War I , and its population was mostly composed of South Slavic Christians , though the nation also had
8181-741: The purpose of providing more living space for the Germans. During the Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia , the euphemism čišćenje terena ("cleansing the terrain") was used by the Croatian Ustaše to describe military actions in which non-Croats were purposely systematically killed or otherwise uprooted from their homes. The term was also used in the December 20, 1941 directive of Serbian Chetniks in reference to
8282-615: The removal of the Serbian Cyrillic script from correspondence in public offices. In an attempt to counter changes made to the constitution, local Serb politicians organized a referendum on "sovereignty and autonomy of Serbian people in Croatia" on 17 August 1990. Their boycott escalated into an insurrection in areas populated by ethnic Serbs, mostly around Knin, known as the Log Revolution . Local police in Knin sided with
8383-476: The separation of Slovenia from the federation on 25 June 1991. Initially, the federal government ordered the Yugoslav People's Army to secure border crossings in Slovenia. Slovenian police and Slovenian Territorial Defence blockaded barracks and roads, leading to stand-offs and limited skirmishes around the republic. After several dozen casualties, the limited conflict was stopped through negotiation at Brioni on 7 July 1991, when Slovenia and Croatia agreed to
8484-442: The side of the self-declared proto-state Republic of Serbian Krajina . Even though the policies throughout the entire socialist period of Yugoslavia seemed to have been the same (namely that all Serbs should live in one state), political scientist Dejan Guzina argues that "different contexts in each of the subperiods of socialist Serbia and Yugoslavia yielded entirely different results (e.g., in favour of Yugoslavia, or in favour of
8585-494: The six entities known as republics that had previously constituted Yugoslavia: Slovenia , Croatia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Montenegro , Serbia , and Macedonia (now called North Macedonia ). SFR Yugoslavia's constituent republics declared independence due to unresolved tensions between ethnic minorities in the new countries, which fueled the wars. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of new states, they resulted in
8686-402: The term "ethnic cleansing" itself a euphemism for genocide denial created by Slobodan Milošević and Serbian propagandists. In its report published on 1 January 1993, Helsinki Watch was one of the first civil rights organisations that warned that "the extent of the violence and its selective nature along ethnic and religious lines suggest crimes of genocidal character against Muslim and, to
8787-588: The territory which was claimed by the Serbian rebels as the self-proclaimed proto-state Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) and brought an end to major military operations, but sporadic artillery attacks on Croatian cities and occasional intrusions into UNPA zones by Croatian forces continued until 1995. The majority of Croatian population in RSK suffered heavily, fleeing or evicted with numerous killings, leading to ethnic cleansing . The fighting in Croatia ended in mid-1995, after Operation Flash and Operation Storm . At
8888-471: The title Cleansing . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleansing&oldid=1249447705 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing
8989-510: The two sides. Yugoslavia refused to sign the Rambouillet Accords , which among other things called for 30,000 NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo; an unhindered right of passage for NATO troops on Yugoslav territory; immunity for NATO and its agents to Yugoslav law; and the right to use local roads, ports, railways, and airports without payment and requisition public facilities for its use free of cost. NATO then prepared to install
9090-672: The war in Bosnia. The war ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement on 14 December 1995, with the formation of Republika Srpska as an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Along with ending the war, the Dayton Agreement also established the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The constitution is consociational in nature and describes Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs as "constituent peoples," giving each ethnic group far reaching veto powers in government. In 2000,
9191-508: The warring factions. In 2012, Chile convicted nine people, including two retired generals, for their part in arms sales. It is widely believed that mass murders against Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina escalated into genocide. On 18 December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 47/121 condemning "aggressive acts by the Serbian and Montenegrin forces to acquire more territories by force" and called such ethnic cleansing "a form of genocide ". Genocide scholars consider
9292-653: The wars in Croatia, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This entailed intimidation, forced expulsion , or killing of the unwanted ethnic group as well as the destruction of the places of worship, cemeteries and cultural and historical buildings of that ethnic group in order to alter the population composition of an area in the favour of another ethnic group which would become the majority. According to numerous ICTY verdicts and indictments, Serb and Croat forces performed ethnic cleansing of their territories planned by their political leadership to create ethnically pure states ( Republika Srpska and Republic of Serbian Krajina by
9393-550: The weakening communist system . As a result, the JNA began to lose Slovenes , Croats , Kosovar Albanians , Bosniaks , and Macedonians , and effectively became a fighting force of only Serbs and Montenegrins . According to a 1994 report by the United Nations (UN), the Serb side did not aim to restore Yugoslavia; instead, it aimed to create a " Greater Serbia " from parts of Croatia and Bosnia . Other irredentist movements have also been brought into connection with
9494-758: The years-long Sarajevo siege and the Srebrenica genocide , was by far the bloodiest and most widely covered of the Yugoslav wars. The Bosnian Serb faction led by ultra-nationalist Radovan Karadžić promised independence for all Serb areas of Bosnia from the majority-Bosniak government of Bosnia. To link the disjointed parts of territories populated by Serbs and areas claimed by Serbs, Karadžić pursued an agenda of systematic ethnic cleansing primarily against Bosnians through massacre and forced removal of Bosniak populations. Prijedor ethnic cleansing , Višegrad massacres , Foča ethnic cleansing , Doboj massacre , Zvornik massacre , siege of Goražde and others were reported. At
9595-551: Was invaded by the Axis powers during World War II, which provided support to the Croatian fascist Ustaše (founded in 1929), whose regime carried out the genocide of Serbs , Jews and Roma by executing people in concentration camps and committing other systematic and mass crimes inside its territory. The predominantly Serb Chetniks , a Yugoslav Royalist and Serbian nationalist movement and guerrilla force , committed mass crimes against Muslims and Croats that are considered
9696-401: Was forcibly resolved. According to historian Norman Naimark , during an ethnic cleansing process, there may be destruction of physical symbols of the victims including temples , books, monuments, graveyards, and street names: "Ethnic cleansing involves not only the forced deportation of entire nations but the eradication of the memory of their presence." In many cases, the side perpetrating
9797-516: Was greatly aggravated by an arms embargo, imposed by the UN on Yugoslavia. The JNA was ostensibly ideologically unitarian, but its officer corps was predominantly staffed by Serbs or Montenegrins (70 percent). As a result, the JNA opposed Croatian independence and sided with the Croatian Serb rebels. The Croatian Serb rebels were unaffected by the embargo because they were supported and supplied by
9898-655: Was named German Un-word of the Year by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache due to its euphemistic, inappropriate nature. The Final Report of the Commission of Experts established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 defined ethnic cleansing as: a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas", [noting that in
9999-619: Was the annexation of land; and the Russian military operations that forcibly deported Circassians were designated by Yevdakimov as “ ochishchenie ” (cleansing). In the early 1900s, regional variants of the term could be found among the Czechs ( očista ), the Poles ( czystki etniczne ), the French ( épuration ) and the Germans ( Säuberung ). A 1913 Carnegie Endowment report condemning
10100-478: Was the first European wartime event to be formally classified as genocidal in character since the military campaigns of Nazi Germany , and many of the key individuals who perpetrated it were subsequently charged with war crimes; the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the UN in The Hague, Netherlands , to prosecute all individuals who had committed war crimes during
10201-548: Was to give greater rights and autonomy to the country's Albanian minority, who made up 25.2% of the population of the Republic of Macedonia (54.7% in Tetovo). There were also claims that the group ultimately wished to see Albanian-majority areas secede from the country, although high-ranking NLA members have denied this. The United Nations Security Council had imposed an arms embargo in September 1991. Nevertheless, various states had been engaged in, or facilitated, arms sales to
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