Ethnic cleansing has been defined 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’ by the United Nations Commission of Experts. The
development of ethnic cleansing in international criminal law began in
respond to the commission of ethnic cleansing in the Former Yugoslavia.
However, the international criminal law in the strict sense still does not
mention ethnic cleansing. Several cases of ethnic cleansing such as in
Armenia, Germany, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda have been
examples for the respond of the international community towards ethnic
cleansing, and State’s responsibility for ethnic cleansing. When the
commission of ethnic cleansing is attributable to a State, the State is
responsible for it. The responsibility of the state including the obligation to
repatriate and to facilitate the repossession of property. The state also
obliges to prevent and to punish the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing. |