Domicide (from Latindomus, meaning home or abode, and caedo, meaning deliberate killing, though used here metaphorically) is the deliberate destruction of housing by human agency in pursuit of specified goals.[1][2] This also encompasses the widespread destruction of a living environment, forcing the incumbent humans to move elsewhere.[1][3] The concept of domicide originated in the 1970s, but only assumed its present meaning in 2022, after a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal.[2][4][5]
Notable historical examples of domicide include: the Bombing of Tokyo, which was the most destructive and deadly non-nuclear bombing in human history,[7] the bombing of Warsaw and Dresden and the destruction perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.[8]
The recent Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip is considered to be the one of the most destructive campaigns in history.[9] Balakrishnan Rajagopal, advisor to the United Nations on dams and Special Rapporteur on adequate housing accused Israel of committing domicide in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.[10][11]
John Porteus and Sandra Smith in their book Domicide: The Global Destruction of Home also highlight the Indian Removal Act as a definite case of domicide.[12]
^Long, Tony (9 March 2011). "March 9, 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy". Wired. 1945: In the single deadliest air raid of World War II, 330 American B-29s rain incendiary bombs on Tokyo, touching off a firestorm that kills upwards of 100,000 people, burns a quarter of the city to the ground, and leaves a million homeless.
