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The genocide of Indigenous peoples, colonial genocide,[1] or settler genocide[2][3][note 1] is the intentional elimination of Indigenous peoples as a part of the process of colonialism.[note 2]
According to certain genocide experts, including Raphael Lemkin – the individual who coined the term genocide – colonization is intrinsically genocidal.[7][8] Lemkin saw genocide via colonialism as a two-stage process: (1) the destruction of the Indigenous group's way of life, followed by (2) the settlers' imposition of their way of life on the Indigenous group.[9][10] Other scholars view genocide as associated with but distinct from settler colonialism.[4][11] The expansion of various Western European colonial powers such as the British and Spanish empires and the subsequent establishment of colonies on Indigenous territories frequently involved acts of genocidal violence against Indigenous groups in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.[12]
The designation of specific events as genocidal is frequently controversial.[13][14] Some scholars, among them Lemkin,[7][15] have argued that cultural genocide, sometimes called ethnocide, should also be recognized. Other scholars contend that genocide should exclusively be thought of in physical and biological terms according to the 1948 Genocide Convention, with cultural genocide being addressed as a human rights issue.[14]
In a footnote, he added that genocide could equally be termed 'ethnocide', with the Greek ethno meaning 'nation'.
Doctrinal opinions can be split into two categories: those who advocate for a broader understanding of the crime, as Larry May does, and those who consider, on the basis of the 1948 Genocide Convention, that genocide should be thought of exclusively in physical and biological terms while cultural genocide should rather be addressed as a human rights issue, per William A. Schabas.
Lemkin did refer to "cultural genocide" from time to time, and he expressed regret that certain related provisions were not retained in the Genocide Convention as it was adopted in 1948.
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