Domicide

 ( Genocide Studies ) 

Domicide (from Latin domus, meaning home or abode, and caedo, meaning deliberate killing, though used here metaphorically) is the deliberate destruction of housing by humans in pursuit of specified goals. It includes the widespread destruction of a living environment, forcing the incumbent humans to move elsewhere.

The concept of domicide originated in the 1970s, but only assumed its present meaning in 2022, after a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal. Rajagopal has argued that international law should be amended to consider domicide to be a war crime.

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Examples Notable historical examples of domicide include: the United States Bombing of Tokyo, which was the most destructive and deadly non-nuclear bombing in human history, the bombing of Warsaw, Dresden and Königsberg, and the destruction perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Andrew E. Collins (2026). 9780203879238, Routledge. . ISBN 9780203879238

The Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip is considered to be one of the most destructive campaigns in recent history. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, accused Israel of committing domicide in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war.

John Porteus and Sandra Smith in their book Domicide: The Global Destruction of Home also highlight the Indian Removal Act as a definite case of domicide.

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See also

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Works cited

• (2026). 9780773569614, McGill-Queen's Press. . ISBN 9780773569614

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Further reading

• (2022). 9781978802728, Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9781978802728
• Ammar Azzouz (2022). 9781350248106, Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781350248106

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External links

• Domicide: The Mass Destruction of Homes Should Be a Crime Against Humanity, MIT Faculty Newsletter (January—March 2024)

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