Watching the Law: Genocide - (1) - Basic details
Watching the Law: Genocide - (2) - The elements of the offence
Aim of this post -
This post considers three further questions concerning genocide - (i) identifying the protected group or groups, (ii) whether acts of genocide always require an underlying genocidal policy by a state or organized authority, (iii) how to discern genocidal intent.
Identifying the protected group -
The 1948 convention applies to protected groups -
This post considers the elements of the offence in greater detail. Links to some decided cases are provided to assist those who wish to delve more deeply into this subject.
*** The elements of the offence of Genocide ***
The elements of genocide can be considered under the headings Objective Elements and Subjective Elements.
* Objective Elements *
The conduct that may amount to genocide is set out by the 1948 Convention under 5 headings -
In the aftermath of World War 2, the United Nations General Assembly passed - United Nations General Assembly Resolution 96. This began -
"Genocide is a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings; such denial of the right of existence shocks the conscience of mankind, results in great losses to humanity in the form of cultural and other contributions represented by these human groups, and is contrary to moral law and to the spirit and aims of the United Nations.
Many instances of such crimes of genocide have occurred when racial, religious, political, and other groups have been destroyed, entirely or in part.
The punishment of the crime of genocide is a matter of international concern."
The General Assembly then affirmed -
The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and many others are calling for a Special Tribunal to be created with a view to trying the Russian President (Vladimir Putin) and his accomplices for the Crime of Aggression in Ukraine -
and please read the Statement and Declaration.
Aggression - its definition and ICC jurisdiction:
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is founded by the Rome Statute of 17 July 1998 - Rome_Statute_English.pdf (icc-cpi.int).
The Statute defines the crime of aggression in Article 8 bis which was added to the Statute following the Kampala Review Conference held in 2010
Reaching agreement
