Content deleted Content added
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
spam |
||
| (37 intermediate revisions by 25 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|An individual without social status or documentation}} |
|||
{{multiple issues| |
{{multiple issues| |
||
{{ |
{{more citations needed |date=February 2014}} |
||
{{ |
{{Original research|date=July 2021}} |
||
}} |
}} |
||
{{Discrimination sidebar|state=collapsed}} |
|||
A '''nonperson''' is a [[citizen]] or a member of a group who lacks, loses, or is forcibly denied social or legal status, especially basic [[human rights]], or who effectively ceases to have a record of their existence within a society (''[[damnatio memoriae]]''), from a point of view of traceability, documentation, or existence. The term also refers to people whose death is unverifiable |
A '''nonperson''' is a [[citizen]] or a member of a group who lacks, loses, or is forcibly denied social or legal status, especially basic [[human rights]], or who effectively ceases to have a record of their existence within a society (''[[damnatio memoriae]]''), from a point of view of traceability, documentation, or existence. The term also refers to people whose death is unverifiable. |
||
==Ways to become== |
|||
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=Voroshilov, Molotov, Stalin, with Nikolai Yezhov.jpg|image2=The Commissar Vanishes 2.jpg|width=225|caption2=A [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] "nonperson" vanishes: [[commissar]] [[Nikolai Yezhov]] retouched after falling from favor and being executed in 1940.}}{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2017}} |
|||
Some common ways in which people become nonpersons are: |
|||
* Never having been sufficiently documented as existing |
|||
* Loss or deletion of the trail of documentation so that the specific person can no longer easily be linked to a documentary record or cannot be shown officially to have existed |
|||
* Covert abduction by government or other bodies combined with [[plausible deniability]] |
|||
* Long-term absence or other circumstances leading to an incorrect belief and legal documentation that they have died |
|||
* Death, when it is unverifiable and left as an open case as to what happened |
|||
* [[Fraud]]ulent reporting of a person as having died when they have not (which can happen for economic reasons in many countries, a form of [[fraud]]) |
|||
* Marginalized or homeless people who live without cash or formal abode and do not appear on official records |
|||
==Legal status== |
==Legal status== |
||
In the case of [[Illegal immigration to the United States|undocumented immigrants]] and at times [[Alien (law) #United States|foreign nationals]] in the United States who have entered the country legally, there are comparisons made to non-personhood due to their lack of agency and differential treatment under the law.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Kevin |date=1997-01-01 |title=The Social and Legal Construction of Nonpersons |url=https://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr/vol28/iss2/6 |journal=University of Miami Inter-American Law Review |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=263}}</ref> |
|||
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2017}} |
|||
Asserting that someone is a nonperson is implicitly a [[Norm (sociology)|normative]] statement; by doing so, it is implied simultaneously that the person referred to is entitled to the rights that any person ''should'' have. Who |
Asserting that someone is a nonperson is implicitly a [[Norm (sociology)|normative]] statement; by doing so, it is implied simultaneously that the person referred to is no longer entitled to the rights that any person ''should'' have. Who a person is and what every person is entitled to depends on context and [[norm (sociology)|social norms]]. For example, [[ward (legal)|wards]] that are under the authority of a [[legal guardian]] due to [[infancy]], [[incapacity]], or [[disability]] are not usually considered nonpersons. {{cn|date=November 2022}} |
||
==Examples== |
==Examples== |
||
| Line 28: | Line 16: | ||
=== Prison camps === |
=== Prison camps === |
||
{{main|Life unworthy of life}} |
|||
In [[Nazi]] [[extermination camps]], [[Jewish]] people and [[Romani people|Romani]] were treated as nonpersons.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/gypsies.html |title=Gypsies in the Holocaust | |
In [[Nazi]] [[extermination camps]], [[Jewish]] people and [[Romani people|Romani]] were treated as nonpersons.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/gypsies.html |title=Gypsies in the Holocaust |via=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |editor-last=Laska |editor-first=Vera |chapter=Women in the Resistance and in the Holocaust: The Voices of Eyewitnesses. |location=Connecticut, US |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1983}}</ref> The purpose of these camps was to systematically [[dehumanization|dehumanise]] these unwanted peoples, use them where possible, and dispose of them efficiently.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/hgs/dcq026 |first=Johannes |last=Lang |title=Questioning Dehumanization: Intersubjective Dimensions of Violence in the Nazi Concentration and Death Camps |journal=Holocaust and Genocide Studies |year=2010 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=225–246 |pmid=20681107|s2cid=24793547 }}</ref> "Nonperson" status was required because it removed the moral and social obstacles for committing otherwise objectionable acts of [[violence]], [[crime]], [[abuse]], [[rape]] and [[murder]]. |
||
===Unofficially missing people=== |
===Unofficially missing people=== |
||
{{main|Forced disappearance}} |
{{main|Forced disappearance}} |
||
Some people are covertly held by governments or other bodies, and effectively cease to exist. |
Some people are covertly held by governments or other bodies, and effectively cease to exist. This happened under [[Augusto Pinochet|Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile]] and [[National Reorganization Process|Argentina's last military dictatorship]]. It was also the guiding strategy behind the Nazi government's ''[[Nacht und Nebel]] (Night & Fog)'' policy in Western Europe. To dodge pointed questions regarding supposedly democratically controlled governments covertly holding people or employing [[torture]], [[plausible deniability]] of knowledge might be used. The existence of [[ghost detainee]]s in a secret [[Black site|CIA prison system]] is an example of this. |
||
In North Korea, [[Jang Song-thaek]], the uncle of Leader [[Kim Jong-Un]], has been removed from pictures and videos since his execution. KCNA and ''Rodong Sinmun'' began erasing references to Jang "as completely as possible",<ref name="Weiser2016">{{Cite web | title = On Reading North Korean Media: The Curse of the Web | last = Weiser | first = Martin | work = Sino-NK | date = 31 October 2016 | access-date = 23 July 2017 | url = http://sinonk.com/2016/10/31/on-reading-north-korean-media-the-curse-of-the-web/ }}</ref> deleting some 100,000 and 20,000 news items from their websites, respectively.<ref name="Florcruz2013">{{Cite web | title = Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Deletes Online Archive Of News After Execution Of Jang Song Thaek | last = Florcruz | first = Michelle | work = International Business Times | date = 16 December 2013 | access-date = 23 July 2017 | url = http://www.ibtimes.com/korean-central-news-agency-kcna-deletes-online-archive-news-after-execution-jang-song-thaek-1510758 }}</ref> |
|||
To an extent, this is made both easier and harder by [[technology]] – easier because reliance upon technology is such that if a person's information is electronically deleted or was never stored in that manner they effectively cease to exist; harder because during every stage of a person's life from birth to death the accumulation of bureaucratic transactions makes it more and more likely that they will leave an official record somewhere. |
|||
=== Industrialized countries === |
|||
A person that does not appear on any official documents, is economically or socially inactive, or lives outside of what is defined as the "productive [[system]]" or "organized [[society]]" could be classified as a nonperson. This is often the case of [[homeless]] and marginalized people in general.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} Another example has been the group of [[The Erased]] in Slovenia, about 25,000 people, who lost their legal status and therefore all social, civil, and political rights after Slovenia declared its independence in 1991, because they did not register themselves in due time as "foreigners". |
|||
Also, some legally detained prisoners can be considered to be in a quasi-nonperson status, temporarily or indefinitely, to different extents depending on the reasons for and conditions of their detention. For example, in most countries, ordinary prisoners are denied political rights such as [[voting]]; in the most severe cases, total or partial isolation from the outside world can be inflicted. |
|||
=== Demonization === |
|||
A "nonperson" status can also be consciously or unconsciously applied to unwanted persons ([[demonization]]) by their surrounding society. This can be extended and applied to an entire nation or [[ethnic group]], as often happens in wars or other conflicts. |
|||
This was the situation in the [[Nazism|Nazi]] state with regard to [[Jew]]s, and in most societies with regard to [[Romani people|gypsies]], and it is often applied in times of [[war]] to the entire enemy nation; its people are stripped of their "person status" and demonized, making them appear to be sub-human (not humans), and thus indirectly rationalizing any excess or abuse committed against them. Similar cases, concerning contra-revolutionaries, are found in most socialist states. {{citation needed|reason= Same thing can be said about revolutionaries in Capitalist states |date=August 2014}} |
|||
It can be argued that the "nonperson" status, apart from the German deathcamps, can be found in its most literal form when considering certain [[prisoners of war]], especially if they are or are considered to be [[illegal combatant]]s.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}} |
|||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
{{Portal| |
{{Portal|Law}} |
||
*[[Damnatio memoriae]] |
*[[Damnatio memoriae]] |
||
*[[ |
*[[Disenfranchisement]] |
||
*[[Exile]], which includes internal exile |
|||
*''[[Homo sacer]]'' |
|||
*[[Internally displaced person]] |
|||
*[[Outlaw]] |
|||
*''[[Persona non grata]]'' |
|||
*[[Personhood]] |
*[[Personhood]] |
||
*[[Stateless person]] |
*[[Stateless person]] |
||
*[[Disenfranchisement]] |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
| Line 61: | Line 42: | ||
{{Discrimination}} |
{{Discrimination}} |
||
{{Conformity}} |
|||
[[Category:Human rights abuses]] |
[[Category:Human rights abuses]] |
||
[[Category:Historical |
[[Category:Historical negationism]] |
||
[[Category:Personhood]] |
[[Category:Personhood]] |
||
Latest revision as of 00:07, 22 March 2024
| Part of a series on |
| Discrimination |
|---|
 |
A nonperson is a citizen or a member of a group who lacks, loses, or is forcibly denied social or legal status, especially basic human rights, or who effectively ceases to have a record of their existence within a society (damnatio memoriae), from a point of view of traceability, documentation, or existence. The term also refers to people whose death is unverifiable.
Legal status[edit]
In the case of undocumented immigrants and at times foreign nationals in the United States who have entered the country legally, there are comparisons made to non-personhood due to their lack of agency and differential treatment under the law.[1]
Asserting that someone is a nonperson is implicitly a normative statement; by doing so, it is implied simultaneously that the person referred to is no longer entitled to the rights that any person should have. Who a person is and what every person is entitled to depends on context and social norms. For example, wards that are under the authority of a legal guardian due to infancy, incapacity, or disability are not usually considered nonpersons. [citation needed]
Examples[edit]
There are many possible meanings associated with the term nonperson.
Prison camps[edit]
In Nazi extermination camps, Jewish people and Romani were treated as nonpersons.[2] The purpose of these camps was to systematically dehumanise these unwanted peoples, use them where possible, and dispose of them efficiently.[3] "Nonperson" status was required because it removed the moral and social obstacles for committing otherwise objectionable acts of violence, crime, abuse, rape and murder.
Unofficially missing people[edit]
Some people are covertly held by governments or other bodies, and effectively cease to exist. This happened under Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile and Argentina's last military dictatorship. It was also the guiding strategy behind the Nazi government's Nacht und Nebel (Night & Fog) policy in Western Europe. To dodge pointed questions regarding supposedly democratically controlled governments covertly holding people or employing torture, plausible deniability of knowledge might be used. The existence of ghost detainees in a secret CIA prison system is an example of this.
In North Korea, Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of Leader Kim Jong-Un, has been removed from pictures and videos since his execution. KCNA and Rodong Sinmun began erasing references to Jang "as completely as possible",[4] deleting some 100,000 and 20,000 news items from their websites, respectively.[5]
See also[edit]
- Damnatio memoriae
- Disenfranchisement
- Exile, which includes internal exile
- Homo sacer
- Internally displaced person
- Outlaw
- Persona non grata
- Personhood
- Stateless person
References[edit]
- ^ Johnson, Kevin (1997-01-01). "The Social and Legal Construction of Nonpersons". University of Miami Inter-American Law Review. 28 (2): 263.
- ^ Laska, Vera, ed. (1983). "Women in the Resistance and in the Holocaust: The Voices of Eyewitnesses.". Gypsies in the Holocaust. Connecticut, US: Greenwood Press – via Jewish Virtual Library.
- ^ Lang, Johannes (2010). "Questioning Dehumanization: Intersubjective Dimensions of Violence in the Nazi Concentration and Death Camps". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 24 (2): 225–246. doi:10.1093/hgs/dcq026. PMID 20681107. S2CID 24793547.
- ^ Weiser, Martin (31 October 2016). "On Reading North Korean Media: The Curse of the Web". Sino-NK. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
- ^ Florcruz, Michelle (16 December 2013). "Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Deletes Online Archive Of News After Execution Of Jang Song Thaek". International Business Times. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
