 “More than 50 million people were systematically murdered in the past 100 years- the century of mass murder.”  “In sheer numbers, these and other killings make the 20 th century the bloodiest period in human history.” National Geo. 2006

“Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:  Killing members of the group.  Causing serious bodily or mental harm.  Deliberately inflicting conditions of life for physical destruction in whole or in part.  Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group  Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

 There are many cases of Genocide which have existed throughout our history dating back to biblical times.

 After the arrival of the Europeans in Native populations began to drastically decrease.  Some methods of genocide included Murder Infected smallpox blankets Scalping Proclamations Treaties Reservations The Indian Removal Acts Anglicization in English schools to remove heritage. Population declined 80-90% in the first 100 years

 The population decreased due to murder, disease, starvation.  Congo “Free State” was privately owned by King Leopold II and he started the mass murders and slave labor.  In 1908 end of Leopold’s rule 21.5 million people died in Congo from

 The Ottoman Empire (Turkish) existed from 1299 to They were responsible for the following: Deportation of 2,000,000 from their homeland- 1,500,000 of the men, women and children were then murdered. 500,000 were expelled from the Armenian homeland which existed for 2,500 years. The Turkish gov’t disputes these charges 15 countries agree (France and Russia) Up to 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered

 To this day, the Turks deny that the Genocide occurred.  This is a VERY controversial issue to the Turks.  Turkey suspended its military ties with France in 2006 after the French parliament's lower house adopted a bill that that would have made it a crime to deny that the Armenian killings constituted a genocide.  23 countries acknowledge the event was genocide  In early October 2007, the U.S. Congress opened debate on whether or not to declare the Armenian event a genocide – much to the dismay of the Turkish government.

 Famine was the act of Genocide committed by the Soviet Government  In 1932 the Soviets increased grain production 44%, which resulted in Grain Shortage- the peasants could not feed themselves. The Soviet knew this, but would not let them eat (by law) until the quota was met.  They could not travel for food.  Stalin states that “"the great bulk (of the 10 million) were very unpopular and were wiped out by their labourers." 7,000,000 to 15,000,000 people, mostly Ukrainians, died

 World War II resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent men, women and children.  While incidents such as the Holocaust and the Rape of Nanking are obvious examples, numerous other incidents demonstrate how conflict is often a “trigger” for these events to occur such as: Strategic bombing of civilian targets (all sides) Forced relocation of Races Displacement and refugees due to war. Over 20 million People were killed.

 In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city.  The six weeks of carnage would become known as the Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war. Two Japanese officers, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda competing to see who could kill (with a sword) one hundred people first. The bold headline reads, "'Incredible Record' (in the Contest to) Cut Down 100 People—Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd Lieutenants Go Into Extra Innings" Contest to) Cut Down 100 People Over 300,000 killed

 During the Holocaust the Nazis’ killed 6million Jews, 3 million POW’s, 2 million Poles and 400,000 other “undesirables”(slaves, homosexuals and communists)  The holocaust was most predominant from previous genocides because of the cruelty, scale and efficiency of the mass murders.  People were killed by: open-air shootings, by killing squads, extermination camps (gas chambers, mass shootings) Over 11 million People were killed.

 Mao Zedong and his communist government killed 30 million Chinese people during his reign in  Most of these were citizens who opposed the gov’t or thought differently  Some were ethnic groups Approx. 30 million killed

 Cambodia  Guatemala  Saddam Hussein & Iraq  Balkans  Rwanda  Sudan

 The communist party Khmer Rouge and leader Pol Pot ruled Cambodia from They were responsible for forced labor, starvation, and execution.  This was one of the most lethal regimes of the 20 th century.  This communist party killed “suspect ethnic groups” - Chinese, Vietnamese, Buddhist monks, and refugees. The Khmer Rouge killed 1.7 million

 It was believed that the Mayan communities were allies of the communist guerrillas who opposed the Government.  This led to increasing and worsening human rights violations perpetrated against them,  It led to extermination en masse of defenseless Mayan communities, including children, women and the elderly,.  Often whole villages were rounded up and killed often in brutal ways by special “Civil Patrol” units. The Mayan Genocide - 200,000 killed

 The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds was a systematic and deliberate murder of at least 50,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 Kurds.  It was the culmination of a long term strategy to solve what the government saw as its “Kurdish problem”. Halabja (March ’88) was one chapter of this campaign in which chemical weapons were used against this Kurdish Village ,000 People killed.

 After the WWI Bosnia was united with other Slav territories to form Yugoslavia, essentially ruled and run by Serbs.  Yugoslavia disintegrated in June 1991  Throughout the region conflict between the three main ethnic groups - the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Christian Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo. Over 50,000 People killed.

 The Rwandan Genocide was the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, mostly carried out by two extremist Hutu militia groups during a period of 100 days from April 6th through mid-July  The Western and First World Countries did nothing to help this situation.  Prior to the attacks the UN did not respond to reports of the Hutu plans.  This Genocide was ended when the Tutsi rebel movement (Rwandese Political Front) seized power from the Hutu Government. Up to 1 million People killed.

 “Hutu Mobs armed with machetes and other weapons killed roughly 8,000 Tutsis a day during a three-month campaign of terror. Powerful nations stood by as the slaughter surged on despite pleas from Rwandan and UN observers” National Geographic 2006.

 Exact numbers are difficult, estimates include: About 300,000 people have been killed or died of starvation Over 2 million people have been displaced.  Janjaweed – Nomadic, “Black” Arab militia supported by Government have attempted to remove the black, non-Arab farmers and take land in the Darfur region.  There is risk of famine and a threat to international security of other countries. "This is more than just a conflict. It is an organised attempt [by Khartoum – the Government] to do away with a group of people. The only difference between Rwanda [in 1994] and Darfur now is the numbers of dead, murdered, tortured and raped involved“. - Mukesh Kapila ( UN coordinator) 300,000 People killed?

Scientists continue to discover mass graves and are exhuming the remains. They try to determine the cause of death in the skeletons and then match up the bones/identity info. to determine who the victims were. Hundreds of Iraquis have been exhumed-but there are still thousands more to be found. Humans allow Genocide to continue and the “civilized” first world countries continue to look the other way…and the tragedies continue. “Will humans ever overcome the ethnic hatreds and other factors that contribute to genocide? Current Research