Ethnic cleansing is the forcible expulsion of a population from its territory on the grounds that it is not “native” or is considered to be a threat. It is a form of discrimination based on race or religion and it violates international law. It is a crime against humanity and it may also be considered an act of genocide. It is a form of population transfer and it has occurred frequently throughout history, often in connection with war and with the aim of creating or securing an ethnically homogenous state.
For example, it was carried out in the case of the Nazi attempts to exterminate Europe’s Jews during World War II, but it also occurred in the forced removal of the Muslim Bosniak population from their homes in the Bosnian and Herzegovina conflict in the early 1990s. It was also used in the campaign to create ethnically homogeneous states in Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. In addition, it was part of the policy of the Soviet Union in its occupied territories and it was applied in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In many cases, it involved the destruction of houses, villages, cemeteries and other physical vestiges that belonged to the targeted group as well as intimidation, forcible displacement or death. Moreover, it is not unusual for civilian casualties to be perpetrated by the belligerents in order to justify their actions and to hasten military surrender. In a number of cases, deterrence by the use of international monitors and the repatriation of refugees have been successful in stopping ethnic cleansing, but this strategy has reached its expiry date in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh.