The Criminal Law Of Genocide

This collection of essays presents a contextual view of genocide. The authors, who are academic authorities and practitioners in the field, explore the legal treatment, but also the social and political concepts and historical dimensions of the crime. They also suggest alternative justice solutions to the phenomenon of genocide. Divided into five parts, the first section offers an historical perspective of genocide. The second consists of case studies examining recent atrocities. The third section examines differences between legal and social concepts of genocide. Part four discusses the treatment of genocide in courts and tribunals throughout the world. The final section covers alternatives to trial justice and questions of prevention and sentencing.

This highly original work provides a thought-provoking and valuable resource for researchers and academics with an interest in genocide, criminology, international organizations, and law and society. In her book, Caroline Fournet examines the law relating to genocide and explores the apparent failure of society to provide an adequate response to incidences of mass atrocity. The work casts a legal perspective on this social phenomenon to show that genocide fails to be appropriately remembered due to inherent defects in the law of genocide itself. The book thus connects the social response to the legal theory and practice, and trials in particular. Fournet's study illustrates the shortcomings of the Genocide Convention as a means of preventing and punishing genocide as well as its consequent failure to ensure the memory of this heinous crime.

This book presents a review of historical and emerging legal issues that concern the interpretation of the international crime of genocide. The Polish legal expert Raphael Lemkin formulated the concept of genocide during the Nazi occupation of Europe, and it was then incorporated into the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This volume looks at the issues that are raised both by the existing international law definition of genocide and by the possible developments that continue to emerge under international criminal law. The authors consider how the concept of genocide might be used in different contexts, and see whether the definition in the 1948 convention may need some revision, also in the light of the original ideas that were expressed by Lemkin. The book focuses on specific themes that allow the reader to understand some of the problems related to the legal definition of genocide, in the context of historical and recent developments. As a valuable contribution to the debate on the significance, meaning and application of the crime of genocide the book will be essential reading for students and academics working in the areas of Legal History, International Criminal Law, Human Rights, and Genocide Studies. Chapter 12 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at http: //www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003015222

In The Crime of Genocide Then and Now: Evolution of a Crime, the editors Pavel Šturma and Milan Lipovský submit an analysis of the readiness of the definition of genocide to the world of 21st century.

This book examines the position of ‘contextual elements’ as a constitutive element of the legal definition of the crime of genocide, and determines the extent to which an individual génocidaire is required to act within a particular genocidal context. Unlike other books in the field of the study of the crime of genocide, this book captures the nuance and the complex issues of the debate by providing book-length comprehensive examination of the position of contextual elements in light of the evolution of genocide as a concept and the literal legal definition of the crime of genocide, which expressly characterized the crime with only the existence of an individualistic intent to destroy a group. With scholars of international criminal law, students, researchers, practitioners in the field, and international criminal tribunals in mind, the author tackles many of the issues raised on the position of contextual elements in both academic literature and judicial decisions. Nasour Koursami is the Director of Applied Research and a Lecturer at the National School of Administration in Chad. He studied law at Cardiff and Bristol Universities and holds a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Edinburgh.

This highly original work provides a thought-provoking and valuable resource for researchers and academics with an interest in genocide, criminology, international organizations, and law and society. In her book, Caroline Fournet examines the law relating to genocide and explores the apparent failure of society to provide an adequate response to incidences of mass atrocity. The work casts a legal perspective on this social phenomenon to show that genocide fails to be appropriately remembered due to inherent defects in the law of genocide itself. The book thus connects the social response to the legal theory and practice, and trials in particular. Fournet's study illustrates the shortcomings of the Genocide Convention as a means of preventing and punishing genocide as well as its consequent failure to ensure the memory of this heinous crime.

The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) has a special standing in international law and international politics. For 60 years, the crime of genocide has been recognised as the most horrendous crime in international law, famously designated the 'crime of crimes'. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its adoption the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that 'genocide is the ultimate form of discrimination'. In the same context the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court described the Genocide Convention as a 'visionary and founding text for the Court'. The Convention has as such influenced the subsequent development of many different areas of international law. For example, the 1951 Advisory Opinion on the Genocide Convention enabled the International Court of Justice to shape the modern regime of reservations to treaties. More recently, the prohibition against genocide has become a crucial pillar of the regime of international criminal law developing since the 1990s, with genocide being one of the core crimes falling under the jurisdiction of the UN ad hoc tribunals, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the permanent International Criminal Court.In this work the 19 provisions of the Convention are analysed article-by-article, with abundant references to state practice and case law.

Elements of Genocide provides an authoritative evaluation of the current perception of the crime, as it appears in the decisions of judicial authorities, the writings of the foremost academic experts in the field, and in the texts of Commission Reports. Genocide constitutes one of the most significant problems in contemporary international law. Within the last fifteen years, the world has witnessed genocidal conduct in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the debate on the commission of genocide in Darfur and the DR Congo is ongoing. Within the same period, the prosecution of suspected génocidaires has taken place in international tribunals, internationalised tribunals and domestic courts; and the names of Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and Saddam Hussein feature among those against whom charges of genocide were brought. Pursuing an interdisciplinary examination of the existing case law on genocide in international and domestic courts, Elements of Genocide comprehensive and accessible reflection on the crime of genocide, and its inherent complexities.