Definition

Genocide (Fr.: génocide, Gr.: γενοκτονία) (See also: crimes against humanity, responsibility to protect, right to intervene, war crimes, ethnic cleansing) = under international law, genocide constitutes a crime against a particular national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Killing members of this group, inflicting trauma through torture or sexual violence, depriving the group of resources needed for its physical survival in an area, preventing births or forcibly transferring children to another group can constitute acts of genocide, when committed with the specific intent to destroy this group, in whole or in part. Intent can be proven directly or inferred from a systematic pattern of coordinated acts, when the crime is part of an organised conspiracy. It is a crime to plan or incite, as well as to aid or attempt genocide.

Following the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, over 70 nations have criminalised genocide under their domestic criminal law.
 

Useful Links

Legislation

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CrimeOfGenocide.aspx - Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 9 December 1948 [English]

http://www.icls.de/dokumente/icty_statut.pdf - Article 4, Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, as adopted by Security Council Resolution 827, 15 May 1993 [English]

http://www.icls.de/dokumente/ictr_statute.pdf - Article 2, Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Security Council resolution 955, 8 November 1994 [English]

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/1997/868 - Report of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States Between 1 January and 31 December 1994, 13 November 1997 (A/52/582-S/1997/868) [English]

https://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf - Article 6, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of Justice, 17 July 1998 [English]

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2008/322 - Report on the Completion Strategy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 13 May 2008 (S/2008/322) [English]

http://www.refworld.org/docid/4acc9a4e2.html - Rwanda: Law No. 18/2008 of 2008 Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology,  23 July 2008 [English]

Case Law

http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/pdf/AKAYESU%20-%20JUDGEMENT.pdf - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu (ICTR-96-4-T), Judgement of the Trial Chamber of 2 September 1998 [English]

http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/ICTR/KAMBANDA_ICTR-97-23/KAMBANDA_ICTR-97-23-S.html - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, The Prosecutor v. Jean Kambanda (ICTR 97-23-S), Judgement of the Trial Chamber of 4 September 1998 [English]

http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krstic/tjug/en/krs-tj010802e.pdf - International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic (IT-98-33), Judgement of 2 August 2001 [English]

http://www.ictrcaselaw.org/docs/doc40472.pdf - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, The Prosecutor v. Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza and Hassan Ngeze (ICTR-99-52-T), Judgement of the Trial Chamber of 3 December 2003 [English]

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13685.pdf - International Court of Juctice, Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro, Judgement of 16 February 2007 [English]

http://www.ictrcaselaw.org/docs/nahimana%20-%20jgt%20apl%20fr.pdf - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza and Hassan Ngeze v. The Prosecutor (ICTR-99-52-A), Judgement of the Appeals Chamber of 28 November 2007 [English]

http://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/tjug/en/100610judgement.pdf - International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Prosecutor v. Vujadi Popovic et al. (IT-05-88-T), Judgement of 10 June 2010 [English]

http://www.mfa.gov.tr/data/DISPOLITIKA/2016/3_-aihm-buyuk-daire-karari_15_10_2015.pdf - European Court of Human Rights, Case of Perincek v. Switzerland (Application no. 27510/08), Judgement of the Grand Chamber of 15 October 2015 [English]

Organisations and associations

http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/adviser/ - UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

http://www.icty.org/ - United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

http://endgenocide.org/ - End Genocide Project

http://www.genocidescholars.org/ - International Association of Genocide Scholars

Online Publications

http://faculty.vassar.edu/tilongma/justice.html - Des Forges A., Longman T., Legal Responses to Genocide in Rwanda from Stover E., 2004, My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity, Cambridge University Press [English]

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/28/rwanda-justice-after-genocide-20-years - Human Rights Watch, 2014, Rwanda: Justice After Genocide - 20 Years On [English, French]

http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=gsp - Hehir A., 2010, An Analysis of Perspectives on the Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Genocide Studies and Prevention: An international Journal Vol. 5 Issue 3 [English]

http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1172&context=njihr - Jansen Y. O., 2014, Denying Genocide or Denying Free Speech? A case Study of the Applications of Rwanda's Genocide Denial Laws, Nortwestern Journal of International Human Rights, Vol. 12, Issue 2 [English]

http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/icty/icty.html - Pocar F., Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law [English]

http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/ictr/ictr.html - Scharf M. P., Statute of the International

http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1984&context=sulr - Sirkin M., 2010, Expanding the Crime of Genocide to Include Ethnic Cleansing: A Return to Established Principles in Light of Contemporary Interpretations, J.D. Thesis, Seattle University School of Law [English]

Publications

Gaeta P., 2009, The UN Genocide Convention: A commentary, Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press [English]

Gendrel M., Lafarge P. (1965). Elements d'une bibliographie mondiale du droit penal militaire des crimes et delits contre la surete de l'etat et du droit penal international: (crimes de guerre - genocide - crimes contre l'humanite); arrete au 31 decembre 1961, Paris, Librarie generale de droit et de jurisprudence [French]

Ingadottir R., Ditewig Y., Cumulative charges of genocide and war crimes in the practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Koufa K., 2003, The new international criminal law: 2001 international law session, Athens, Sakkoulas [English]

Malmstrom S., Genocide case law at the ICTY in Bellelli R., 2010, International criminal justice: Law and practice from the Rome Statute to its review, Ashgate Pub. [English]

Morris V., Scharf M. P., 1998, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Irvington-on-Hudson, NY, Transnational Publishers [English]

Nsanzuwera F. X., La repression du genocide des Rwandais Tutsi: d'Arusha vers les Collines Rwandaises in HAC Conference, Ribbelink O. M., 2008, Beyond the UN charter: Peace, security and the role of justice. The Hague, New York, Hague Academic Press [French]

Rae H., 2002, State identities and the homogenisation of peoples, New York, Cambridge University Press [English]

Schabas W., The crime of genocide in Koufa K., 2003, The new international criminal law: 2001 international law session, Athens, Sakkoulas [English]

Schabas W., 2009, Genocide in international law: the crime of crimes, Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press [English]

 

By Angeliki Tsanta