Genocide Learning Target: Students will be able to explain what genocide is.

What is genocide? Discuss with a partner what you think the definition of genocide is. Where have you heard the term? What are some examples of genocide you have heard of? Be ready to share with the class

Spectrum of Violence With your partner, discuss where you would place the following acts on a spectrum from least harmful to most harmful. Assume this is in a country with two groups of people: Pink and Purple. Calling someone a bad name because they are purple Ransacking a neighborhood, breaking windows of houses and painting graffiti on purple people’s houses Beating up a random person on the street because they are purple Killing a purple family because they are purple Spitting on someone because they are purple Rounding up and taking all purple people to a school yard and killing them Passing a law to prevent all purple people from getting jobs from pink people

What is genocide? Genocide is the systematic actions taken to destroy or exterminate a group of people based on a specific characteristic of the group (such as race, religion, ethnicity). Break down each segment and define them with your partner: Systematic actions taken To destroy or exterminate A group of people Based on a specific characteristic of the group

Where did the term come from? WWII 6 million Jewish people had been systematically killed by the Nazis International community decided this should never happen again United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) in 1948 Gave a legal definition of genocide Obligates countries that signed the treaty to intervene to stop genocide when it is occurring.

Definition from convention: Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group Does this definition change your thoughts of what could be considered “genocide”? Why or why not?

This week: We will take a look at a recent example of genocide in 1994 in Rwanda and the response (or lack of a response) by the international community Then we will look at a genocide (as deemed by the United States) in Sudan that led to the creation of a new country, South Sudan, in 2011 and the ongoing conflict between the two countries