Genocide

Abstract

This article explores the expectations placed on the law of genocide and the realities of what international criminal justice can provide in applying it. It traces a number of problems and identifies the law as inevitably falling short of the significant expectations placed on it. Although recognizing the political realities of the crime of genocide make this highly challenging, this article argues that definitional normative issues must be addressed. Above all the international community must achieve clarity as to what purpose it pursues using the law of genocide and must further reconsider how it does so. It is apparent that the law of genocide is applied in a variety of contexts for a number of purposes. This contribution ventures that each area should be treated individually without the expectation that a “one size fits all” solution exists. A failure to act accordingly will result in further disappointment with this highly symbolic norm and ultimately undermine international criminal law and justice as a whole.

The Khmer Rouge and the Crime of Genocide - Issues of Genocidal Intent with Regard to the Khmer Rouge Mass Atrocities

“…1171 Expectations of victims who demand justice for the unimaginable harm they suffered clash with the realities of what international criminal justice can provide. 1172 International criminal justice has a narrow focus on attributing individual criminal responsibility and is in no way a comprehensive answer to the commission of mass atrocities, let alone a sufficient mechanism of prevention. On a fundamental level, the need for a legal characterization of past mass atrocities always comprises the concession of a failure to act.…”