Mass killing of groups based on race or religion and ethnicity is called what?

• A. Crimes Against Humanity
• B. Genocide
• C. Ethnic Cleansing
• D. War Crimes

Answer: (B)

Mass killing aimed at destroying groups defined by race, religion, or ethnicity is genocide. This term captures the explicit intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group, such as Jews in the Holocaust or Tutsis in Rwanda. The definition comes from the international Genocide Convention, which specifies acts committed with the aim of wiping out a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.

Crimes against humanity describe widespread or systematic attacks on civilians, but not necessarily with the intent to destroy the group as such. War crimes are violations of the laws of war during armed conflict. Ethnic cleansing refers to removing a group from a territory to change its ethnic makeup, often through expulsion or violence, but it does not inherently require the explicit intention to annihilate the group itself. Genocide focuses on intentional destruction of a protected group, which is why it’s the best fit for mass killings based on race, religion, or ethnicity.