Post: #26

The first formal concentration camps in/by the Western world were created by the United States and Britain.

The US in the mid 1800's to subdue certain Native American tribes, who were not toeing the line. The British in the Boer War (also called the the South African War) to subdue the Afrikaners/Boers, who they were fighting for control of gold producing provinces the Boers had established.

While there were no direct execution policies as in the notorious Nazi camps the actions still meet any reasonable definition of genocide since:

1) They targeted a certain ethnic/language/cultural group.
2) The people interred were not enemy combatants but civilians, usually women and children.
3) They were forced into the camps (i.e Imprisoned)
4) Death rates in the camps were spectacularly higher than they were in the population before the establishment of the camps, or in the general civilian population, indicating that a reasonable duty of care for imprisoned people was not carried out.
5) These deaths were of civilians of the "enemy" tribe and not directly related to any military action (e.g. as in a bombing raid).

Quote:The first modern concentration camps in the United States were created in 1838. At this time, the United States government, led by President Van Buren, decided to remove the native Cherokee population from their lands and place them all in concentration camps.

Quote:Around 1900, the British used concentration camps in the Second Boer War in South Africa. The families of South African men fighting against the British were put in camps to stop them from giving food and help to the fighters. Their houses and farms were also burned. At least 30,000 people, mostly children, died in these camps from sickness or hunger.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration_camp