Domicide
Domicide (from Latin domus, meaning home or abode, and caedo, meaning deliberate killing, though used here metaphorically) is the deliberate destruction of housing by human agency in pursuit of specified goals.[1][2] It includes the widespread destruction of a living environment, forcing the incumbent humans to move elsewhere.[1][3]
The concept of domicide originated in the 1970s, but only assumed its present meaning in 2022, after a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal.[2][4][5] Rajagopal has argued that international law should be amended to consider domicide to be a war crime.[6]
Examples
[edit]Notable historical examples of domicide include: the American Bombing of Tokyo, which was the most destructive and deadly non-nuclear bombing in human history,[7] the bombing of Warsaw and Dresden and the destruction perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.[8]
The Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip is considered to be one of the most destructive campaigns in recent history.[9] Balakrishnan Rajagopal, advisor to the United Nations on dams and Special Rapporteur on adequate housing accused Israel of committing domicide in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.[10][11]
John Porteus and Sandra Smith in their book Domicide: The Global Destruction of Home also highlight the Indian Removal Act as a definite case of domicide.[12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Porteous & Smith 2001, p. 12.
- ^ a b Ahituv, Netta (4 January 2024). "Amid Israeli Destruction in Gaza, a New Crime Against Humanity Emerges: Domicide". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 10 January 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Sullivan, Becky (9 February 2024). "What is 'domicide,' and why has war in Gaza brought new attention to the term?". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 28 January 2025. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
- ^ "Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Balakrishnan Rajagopal (A/77/190) [EN/AR/RU/ZH] - World". Reliefweb. 28 October 2022. Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ ""Domicide" must be recognised as an international crime: UN expert". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 28 October 2022. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024.
- ^ Rajagopal, Balakrishnan (29 January 2024). "Opinion | Domicide: The Mass Destruction of Homes Should Be a Crime Against Humanity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ Long, Tony (9 March 2011). "March 9, 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy". Wired. Archived from the original on 18 January 2025.
1945: In the single deadliest air raid of World War II, 330 American B-29s rain incendiary bombs on Tokyo, touching off a firestorm that kills upwards of 100,000 people, burns a quarter of the city to the ground, and leaves a million homeless.
- ^ Collins, Andrew E. (2009). Disaster and Development. Routledge. p. 109. ISBN 9780203879238.
- ^ Frankel, Julia (11 January 2024). "Israel's military campaign in Gaza seen as among the most destructive in recent history, experts say". AP News. Archived from the original on 30 January 2025.
- ^ "UN rights expert condemns 'systematic' war-time mass destruction of homes". UN News. United Nations. 5 March 2024. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023.
- ^ Porteous & Smith 2001, p. 77–80.
Works cited
[edit]- Porteous, Douglas; Smith, Sandra E. (2001). Domicide: The Global Destruction Of Home. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 9780773569614.
Further reading
[edit]- Akesson, Bree; Basso, Andrew R. (February 2022). From Bureaucracy to Bullets: Extreme Domicide and the Right to Home. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-1978802728.
- Azzouz, Ammar (November 2022). Domicide: Architecture, War and the Destruction of Home in Syria. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1350248106.
External links
[edit]
- Domicide: The Mass Destruction of Homes Should Be a Crime Against Humanity, MIT Faculty Newsletter (January—March 2024)
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