Doctors Against Genocide Medical Definition of Genocide

---

December, 5 2024

Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a group of people based on their national, ethnic, racial, or religious identity. From a medical and public health perspective, genocide is recognized as a disease of society and a severe public health hazard, characterized by widespread physical and psychological harm. This includes mass killings, torture, deprivation of essential resources (such as food, water, or healthcare), forced sterilizations, and severe mental trauma inflicted on survivors and communities.

As a societal disease, genocide propagates long-term health crises, including generational trauma, mental health disorders, displacement-related illnesses, and the collapse of healthcare infrastructure. It also creates fertile conditions for the spread of infectious diseases, malnutrition, and chronic conditions among displaced or marginalized populations.

Recognizing genocide as a disease underscores the urgency for multidisciplinary preventive strategies, integrating healthcare, policy-making, and education to halt its progression and mitigate its devastating public health impacts.

Genocide, like an epidemic, thrives in environments of systemic neglect, inequality, and hatred. It requires a medical approach to focus not only on treatment but also on early detection, intervention, and prevention. This contrasts sharply with the limitations of the legal framework.

• Like any disease, genocide has identifiable signs and symptoms that allow for early recognition, diagnosis, and intervention.
  • Since the 20th century, genocide has taken more lives than wars and pandemics combined, underscoring its unparalleled impact on public health.
  • This perspective shifts the focus toward predictive measures and prevention, emphasizing the importance of saving lives over legalistic debates.

• Early detection of genocide’s major risk factors, including dehumanization, discrimination, and polarization, ensures that action is taken at the earliest credible signs of mass violence or systemic oppression.
  • Delays in recognition—driven by political hesitation or rigid legal requirements—result in catastrophic loss of life, an outcome the medical community has a moral obligation to prevent.

• Proving intent should not be a prerequisite for intervention. This legalistic requirement often delays lifesaving actions. 
  • Instead, the focus should be on observable impacts, such as mass deaths, serious bodily harm, displacement, and infliction of conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of life in whole or in part, which are undeniable markers of a crisis demanding an immediate response.

• International laws, regulations, and frameworks should prioritize prevention over retrospective adjudication.
  • The global community must adopt a health-oriented approach focused on the duty to prevent and protect regardless of whether intent is conclusively proven.

• Any mass loss of lives and livelihoods should be viewed as intolerable and unjustifiable, regardless of political, social, or economic contexts.
  • This stance reasserts the sanctity of human life and reinforces the moral duty to act.

• The framework emphasizes the necessity of an independent international medical body tasked with:
• Monitoring and Prediction: Using data-driven methods to identify early signs of genocide or mass atrocities.
• Prevention: Developing and implementing interventions to stop escalation, as well as to provide life-saving care
• The power to declare an impending or ongoing genocide based on medical and humanitarian evidence.
• The ability to mobilize international resources and interventions, including medical, logistical, and protective measures.
• The authority to hold governments and entities accountable for acts that contribute to genocide or hinder prevention efforts.
• This body must remain free from political interference, operating solely on humanitarian and medical principles to uphold the sanctity of life and prevent atrocities.

• Current international laws, often bound by strict definitions of intent, must evolve to reflect the medical definition of genocide.
  • Legal frameworks should align with public health principles, prioritizing rapid response, risk reduction, and proactive accountability.

• Healthcare workers often lack the training to recognize evidence of mass atrocities or indiscriminate violence.
  • Standardizing education to democratize knowledge, including training on early warning signs and disentangling trauma care from militaristic frameworks, would empower doctors to independently and ethically raise credible alerts.

The medical framework of genocide prevention must take its rightful place within the international community and lead efforts in genocide prevention. By adopting this framework and establishing an independent international medical body with executive powers, the global medical community can transform its response to atrocities. This approach ensures that mass violence and systemic oppression are addressed with the urgency, precision, and authority they demand, safeguarding human life and dignity above all else. 

Doctors Against Genocide is collaborating with experts in international law, genocide studies, medical ethics, education, and United Nations representatives to implement this definition and ensure its effectiveness.

For suggestions and inquiries, please email us at: leadership@doctorsagainstgenocide.org.