Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editorials

Imminent health crises among the Rohingya people of Myanmar

BMJ 2017; 359 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5210 (Published 15 November 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;359:j5210

Rapid Response:

Re: Imminent health crises among the Rohingya people of Myanmar: the phrase ethnic cleansing is dangerous and should be abandoned

Editor,
the phrase ethnic cleansing is a dangerous euphemism for genocide or attempted genocide, the latter being a crime under international law.(1) The overlap between the definitions of ethnic cleansing and genocide means they cannot be distinguished (http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.html).

Cleansing is generally a good thing. To link this positive word to ethnic is, subliminally if not overtly, suggesting an explanation and motivation for an atrocity. This linkage is dangerous in societies, perhaps the majority globally, where racism and prejudice are present and where the concept of ethnic cleansing might be attractive at least to a minority, even if unspoken. The phrase ethnic cleansing has been repeatedly used in all media including the BMJ, most recently in describing the potential ‘slow burning ‘ genocide against the Rohingya Muslims. It is not sufficient to put the phrase into quotation marks as Pocock et al have done. I implore the BMJ to support an absolute ban on this phrase as a euphemism for genocide or alleged genocide, even of the ‘slow burning’ type.

1. Blum R, Stanton GH, Sagi S, Richter ED. 'Ethnic cleansing' bleaches the atrocities of genocide. The European Journal of Public Health. 2008;18(2):204-9.

Competing interests: No competing interests

11 December 2017
Raj S Bhopal
Professor of Public Health & Consultant in Public Health
Edinburgh Migration, Ethnicity and Health Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics
The University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG