the maquis colonists and cardassians just switched planets as a result. does that count as a war crime in the 2370s in the Federation? I dunno.
Forced resettlement with the purpose of removing a certain group is people from a certain area are generally known as Ethnic Cleansing, which is legally distinct from genocide today (but I hope not in the 24th century). It’s also a crime against humanity and against the Geneva conventions.
It wasn’t a certain group though, it was all Federation citizens being forced to leave a planet which was agreed in negotiations with Cardassia to have been rightful Cardassian territory which was illegally occupied by the Federation in the first place.
Federation citizens ARE a group though. Let me rephrase this a bit more offensively and modern day:
it was all Armenian citizens being forced to leave a land which was agreed in negotiations with Turkey to have been rightful Turkish territory which was illegally occupied by Armenia in the first place.
The difference is it was Federation citizens doing it to rogue Federation citizens, who had actually committed a similar crime of forced relocation by making a Cardassian colony uninhabitable to Cardassians.
That doesn’t make the situation totally right, that’s just to say it’s morally gray.
Forced resettlement with the purpose of removing a certain group is people from a certain area are generally known as Ethnic Cleansing, which is legally distinct from genocide today (but I hope not in the 24th century). It’s also a crime against humanity and against the Geneva conventions.
It wasn’t a certain group though, it was all Federation citizens being forced to leave a planet which was agreed in negotiations with Cardassia to have been rightful Cardassian territory which was illegally occupied by the Federation in the first place.
Federation citizens ARE a group though. Let me rephrase this a bit more offensively and modern day:
The difference is it was Federation citizens doing it to rogue Federation citizens, who had actually committed a similar crime of forced relocation by making a Cardassian colony uninhabitable to Cardassians.
That doesn’t make the situation totally right, that’s just to say it’s morally gray.
It’s a little like calling the Alamo a genocide.
I mean, the planet was literally made uninhabitable for humans. The toxic atmosphere is indiscriminate as to what polity they are a citizen of.