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The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on May 18, 2007
The European Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckm011
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

‘Ethnic cleansing’ bleaches the atrocities of genocide{dagger}

Rony Blum1,2, Gregory H. Stanton3, Shira Sagi4 and Elihu D. Richter1

1 Genocide Prevention program, Center for Injury Prevention School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah, Jerusalem 91120, Israel
2 Research Associate, Ombudsman Office, Hadassah Medical Organization
3 University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, USA
4 Hebrew University Law School, Jerusalem, Israel

Correspondence: Elihu D. Richter MD, MPH, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah, Jerusalem, 91120, Israel, tel: +972 2 6758147, e-mail: elir{at}cc.huji.ac.il, roblum{at}cc.huji.ac.il

Received June 17, 2006 , accepted January 24, 2007

Genocide has been the leading cause of preventable violent death in the 20th–21st century, taking even more lives than war. The term ‘ethnic cleansing’ is used as a euphemism for genocide despite it having no legal status. Like ‘Judenrein’ in Nazi Medicine, it expropriates pseudo-medical terminology to justify massacre. Use of the term dehumanizes the victims as sources of filth and disease, propagates the reversed social ethics of the perpetrators. Timelines for recent genocides (Bosnia, 1991–1996, 200 000; Kosovo 1998–2000, 10 000–20 000; Rwanda, 1994, 800 000; Darfur 2002–2006, >400 000) show that its use bears no relationship to death tolls scale of atrocity. Bystanders’ use of the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ signals the lack of will to stop genocide, resulting in huge increases in deaths, and undermines international legal obligations of acknowledging genocide. The term ‘ethnic cleansing’ corrupts observation, interpretation, ethical judgment and decision-making, thereby undermining the aim of public health. Public health should lead the way in expunging the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ from official use. ‘Ethnic cleansing’ bleaches the atrocities of genocide, leading to inaction in preventing current and future genocides.

{dagger} This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Eric Markusen, who, shortly before succumbing to cancer, contributed thoughtful suggestions concerning the sequence of events regarding the failure to prevent genocide in Darfur


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