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Dictionary of Gross Human Rights Violations

Genocide, Causes of

What causes genocide? What catalyses people to undertake such extreme violence against their fellow humans? The answers to these questions are not simple or straightforward. Genocide, and the crime against humanity of persecution, are unique crimes because the victim is victimised specifically because they belong to (or are considered by others as belonging to) a particular group. Genocide, the intent to destroy a group, requires a particular mindset. Therefore, genocide is not possible without the dehumanisation of the group, and, by extension, the individual belonging to this group.

Certain root factors may be present that allow leaders to dehumanise the group and incite violence. These root factors may include such things as economic and political inequalities, crises (i.e. economic recession, or political collapse), and a history of conflict between groups. These root factors may also combine with other psychological influences such as obedience to authority and group pressures to increase the likelihood of violence.

It must be noted that among most people there is a great reluctance to commit atrocities; atrocities that contravene values taught in the family, religious teachings, and perhaps even instinct itself. Nevertheless, most people can be conditioned in such a way that, under certain circumstances, the perpetration of extreme violence becomes possible. The state often plays a fundamental role in this process and in the organisation of genocide and other gross human rights violations in general. For example it is the state that helps to define exactly who is an “enemy” and therefore who is outside of the moral community. The state may also develop a bureaucracy of genocide that uses techniques such as “technicalisation” (the use of technical language to abstract and dehumanise individuals and groups) and “fragmentalisation” (the assignment of small specialised tasks to individuals in such a way that they do not perceive themselves as part of grand extermination plan). Finally, physical distance (through such means as industrial killing and long-distance weaponry) make it easier for the perpetrators to commit atrocities. In the final analysis, genocide is not something that occurs spontaneously, but rather the causation of genocide can be found in leaders who manipulate root factors in order to create the requisite organisation and societal conditions for mass killing.

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