Violence along internal borders
Name(s):
Internal language, religious or ethnic divisions
Nature
Countries may be crossed by internal borders or may contain recognized enclaves that respect differing languages, differing ethnicities or differing religious beliefs. This can occur in respect to all three conditions, for which examples exist over all the world. Such divisions have arisen when nations have been occupied and the indigenous peoples segregated, or following political settlements after wars, near wars, civil strife or unrest. The ill-feelings that create such divisions persist and often focus on the borders, where incidents of personal violence or violence against property occur. Unofficial borders occur frequently as well, and are easily seen in large cities where barrios or ghettos exist. Social tension may be even stronger on or near unofficial borders.
Incidence
A few examples of groups involved in ethnic violence include: Hindus and Muslims, and Hindus and Sikhs in India; Jews and Muslims in Israel; Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the former Soviet Union; Tamils and Ceylonese in Sri Lanka; Tibetans and Chinese in Tibet; Moros and Filipinos in the Philippines; Somalis and the majorities of Kenya and Ethiopia; the Eritreans and Ethiopians; Catholic and Protestants in Northern Ireland; and Basques and other Spaniards in Spain.
Claim
Such internal borders in a country are invitations to continued conflict. Obstacles to their elimination, however, lie in the legal, economic and social insecurity of citizens in societies that have become increasingly pluralistic, but which are dominated by one language, one ethnicity or one religious creed.
Aggravated by
Value(s)
Type
(D) Detailed problems