genocidale

Genocidale is an adjective used in Italian and in international discourse to describe acts, policies, or rhetoric that aim to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part. The term is derived from genocide and is commonly employed to characterize behavior or planning as having genocidal intent.

In international law the related concept is genocide, defined in the UN Genocide Convention of 1948 as acts committed with dolus specialis, the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group. The term genocidale is often used to denote actions or strategies that meet this threshold, or that exhibit a policy of systematic destruction, even if not every action qualifies as genocide per se.

Genocidal acts can include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births, or forcibly transferring children to another group. Describing a regime or campaign as genocidal signals a legal and moral judgment about intent and scale, and may be contested in some disputes, requiring evidence and due process.

The term is used by scholars, judges, journalists, and policymakers to discuss historical or ongoing crises. While closely associated with the broader concept of genocide, genocidale emphasizes the intentional, systematic character of acts that seek to annihilate a group rather than solely to punish or repel it.