Raphael Lemkin described genocide as "acts of barbarity that should be outlawed, even in times of war". Lemkin is right. Genocide is a cruel and vicious act that I would not wish on my greatest enemies. It's torture and death. Many people think that genocide is a thing of the past. After all, it is already 2014. We are much more advanced and connected than during the Holocaust. A genocide that began just 22 years ago and occurred during the war in Bosnia. The Bosnian genocide was atrocious because it classified and dehumanized a religion, it allowed the extermination of a people based on religion, and the killers denied ever committing a crime and tried to cover up the deaths. The Bosnian War took place in the republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This region was ethnically and religiously diverse. There were three main ethnic groups: the Serbs, the Croats and the Muslims. “In 1991 the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina amounted to 4.5 million” (Ching). 44% of the population of this country (which is slightly smaller than the US state of West Virginia) was Muslim, 33% was Serbian and 17% was Croatian. There were also small communities of Roma (often called Gypsies), Jews and ethnic Albanians. Because Bosnia's cities were typically mixed communities, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, and Bosnian Muslims were all friends and neighbors. They even married each other (Ching). Being so ethnically diverse has led to a lot of conflict. The Balkans have also had alternating periods of peace and conflict. For example, “The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by the Serbian nationalist group, the Black Hand, triggered World War I.” (Bosnian Genocide). A communist resistance army expels... middle of paper... a suicide classified and dehumanized a religion, allowed the extermination of a people based on religion, and allowed the murderers to deny ever committing their crimes. Genocide is a horrendous act that is permitted because humankind cannot seem to overcome the idea that others are different. Even in war, humans should not have the right to torture and kill other humans if the reason is as stupid and naive as being different. If we all embraced our differences and stopped associating evil and different as the same thing, we would get along much better. After all, wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same? Works Cited Bosnia 1995. nd Web. 20 May 2014. Bosnian Genocide. nd Web. May 20, 2014.Ching, Jacqueline. Genocide and war in Bosnia. New York: Rosen Pub., 2009. PDF.The Combat Genocide Association. Bosnian genocide. nd Web. May 20 2014.