Ethnic cleansing has come into the lexicon of international violence during the wars in the former Yugoslavia of 1992, but its history and motivations date to much earlier periods. Like many other forms of forced resettlement, such as the massacre of Armenians by Turks in the late-19th century, the expulsions of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s from European states, and the campaign to drive out Kosovo Albanians by Serbs in the 1990s, ethnic cleansing combines political power with the means of violence to achieve its goals. As such, it is a distinct category of social violence and a significant challenge to the rule of law and the concept of human rights.
It is difficult to define precisely what constitutes ethnic cleansing, but it generally involves the forcible removal or compulsion to leave of members of a group identified by specific criteria such as religion, race, or ethnicity with a view to render an area ethnically homogenous. Techniques used in such cases include murder, torture (Torture, Prohibition of), arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced removal, wanton destruction of property, confinement to ghetto areas, discriminatory housing, work and educational restrictions, the use of weapons against civilians, and other coercive measures (Commission of Experts First Interim Report at para 55; Blagojevic [Trial Judgment] para 596).
Those forced to leave often experience genocidal overtones as they are driven away from their homes, their jobs, their families, and their roots, and are often left in refugee camps where they can be subjected to rape, malnutrition, disease, and even death (Petrovic 351). The inclusion of ethnic cleansing within the categories of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide by the UN Security Council in 2005 supports this view.