Ethnic cleansing is where ethnic or religious groups are forced to leave an area by another ethnic group.  The goal of an ethnic cleansing is to remove one ethnic group from a certain geographical area.

In an ethnic cleansing, They may force people to move; deport people; threaten them until they leave;  and use rape and mass murder.

Ethnic genocide is a form of ethnic cleansing but not all cases of ethnic cleansing are ethnic genocide

Definitions
The United Nations defines ethnic cleansing this way:
 It is done on purpose, as part of a plan
 It is done by one ethnic or religious group
 That group uses violence and terror to force other ethnic or religious groups to leave certain areas
 The goal is to make sure that only the perpetrators' ethnic or religious group lives in those areas

A report by United Nations experts said that ethnic cleansing has been done in many different ways, including:
 Murder
 Torture
 Arresting innocent people and putting them in jail
 Executing people without a trial
 Rape and sexual assault
 Forcing people to live in ghettoes
 Forced migration and deportation
 Attacking civilians and civilian areas (like homes and schools)
 Destroying property

Experts say that ethnic cleansing is different than genocide.  In a genocide, a group tries to kill every member of a certain group, so that group no longer exists on the earth.  In an ethnic cleansing, the perpetrators are trying to get rid of other groups in specific areas.

International law
There is no official legal definition of ethnic cleansing.  However, both the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) define deporting a population from its home as a crime against humanity.  Other crimes that happen during ethnic cleansing are treated as separate crimes that may fit under the definitions of genocide or crimes against humanity.  For example, murdering, raping, and persecuting large groups of people are all crimes against humanity under the International Criminal Court's laws.

Examples of ethnic cleansing

Jews in ancient and medieval history

During ancient and medieval history, Jewish people were victims of ethnic cleansing in many countries.  For example, around 1290 AD, King Edward I of England ordered all of the Jews in the country to leave.  Hundreds of elderly Jews were executed.  Next, France and some German states did the same.  Finally, in 1492, Spain ordered its Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave the country.  Any Jew who stayed in the country would be executed without a trial.  Between 40,000 and 100,000 Jews were forced to leave Spain.

Ten years later, in 1502, Spain also forced its Muslims to leave the country.

Early modern history: Ireland
In 1652, Oliver Cromwell and the English military took over Ireland.  Historians Brendan O'Leary and John McGarry write: "Oliver Cromwell offered Irish Catholics a choice between genocide and forced mass population transfer."  Cromwell wanted all of the Irish Catholics to leave eastern Ireland and move to the northwest.

With Cromwell in charge, the English military forced many Irish Catholics to leave eastern Ireland, and killed many of the people who refused to leave.  They did this by:
 Threatening to execute Irish people who fought back against the English
 Taking away about 40% of the land owned by Irish Catholics, and giving it to English Protestants
 Massacring Irish Catholics
 Burning Irish crops with the goal of starving the Irish Catholics

Historian John Morrill says that England's actions were "the greatest episode of ethnic cleansing ever attempted in Western Europe."  About 600,000 Irish people died  43% of the Irish population.  Because of this, historians do not agree on whether this was an ethnic cleansing or a genocide.

The 19th century: Native Americans removal

In the 19th century, the United States government committed an ethnic cleansing against Native American tribes.  At this time, the United States was growing.  Many people in the country wanted to take over what is now the Southern United States.  However, this land had always belonged to Native American tribes, like the Cherokee Nation.

In the early 1800s, the United States government started a program of removing these tribes from the South.  The government wanted these tribes to move west, outside the United States.  Under Andrew Jackson, the United States military took land away from Creek and Seminole Indians.

Some tribes signed treaties and agreed to move.  However, other tribes refused to leave the land that had always been theirs.  In 1829, Andrew Jackson became President.  The next year, he signed the Indian Removal Act.  Jackson used this law to force tribes that were still in the South to leave the United States.

The Cherokee Nation refused to leave their homes.  In 1838, President Martin van Buren ordered the military to force them to leave.p. 41  Soldiers forced about 15,000 Cherokees and 2,000 of their slaves to leave their land.  At first, the Cherokees were all forced into internment camps, where 353 Cherokee died from diseases during one summer.pp. 41–42  After that, the Cherokee were forced to walk from the South to what is now Oklahoma and Arkansas.  Most historians say that about 4,000 people died on the way.  This was one out of every four people in the Cherokee population.  Because so many people died, this forced migration is now called the Trail of Tears.

The 20th century: Poles during The Holocaust

In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland.  This started World War II.  After taking over part of Poland, Nazi Germany committed an ethnic cleansing against the Polish people.  They did this in many ways:
 The Nazis deported at least 1.5 million Polish people out of Poland.  They did this for two reasons:
 So Germans could move into Poland and have it for themselves; and
 So Polish people could be used as forced labor in areas that Germany controlled
 The Nazis sent hundreds of thousands of Polish people to concentration camps
 They killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians
 They killed at least 3 million Polish Jews

The 21st century: Darfur

Starting in 2003, the government of Sudan has been accused of committing an ethnic cleansing against black ethnic groups in Darfur.  The Sudanese military, police, and a militia called the Janjaweed have done this by:
 Attacking and massacring civilians
 Bombing and burning down villages
 Forcing people to leave Darfur, then giving their villages to Arab people
 Raping and sexually assaulting thousands of women and girls

As of 2007, about 450,000 black Darfurians had been killed, and about 800 villages had been destroyed.  As of April 2008, about 2.5 million people  one-third of Darfur's population  were living in refugee camps.  These people had been forced to leave their homes, either by soldiers, or because their villages had been destroyed.

Notes

References

Crimes against humanity