Genocide in International Law
The Crime of Crimes

This second edition focuses on the drafting and subsequent interpretation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

William A. Schabas (Author)

9780521719001, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 February 2009

760 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 3.5 cm, 1.17 kg

The 1948 Genocide Convention has become a vital legal tool in the international campaign against impunity. Its provisions, including its enigmatic definition of the crime and its pledge both to punish and prevent the 'crime of crimes', have now been interpreted in important judgments by the International Court of Justice, the ad hoc Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and various domestic courts. The second edition of this definitive work focuses on the judicial interpretation of the Convention, relying on debates in the International Law Commission, political statements in bodies like the General Assembly of the United Nations and the growing body of case law. Attention is given to the concept of protected groups, to problems of criminal prosecution and to issues of international judicial cooperation, such as extradition. The duty to prevent genocide and its relationship with the emerging doctrine of the 'responsibility to protect' are also explored.

1. Origins of the legal prohibition of genocide
2. Drafting of the Convention and subsequent normative developments
3. Groups protected by the Convention
4. The physical element or actus reus of genocide
5. The mental element or mens rea of genocide
6. 'Other acts' of genocide
7. Defences to genocide
8. Prosecution of genocide by international and domestic tribunals
9. State responsibility and the role of the International Court of Justice
10. Prevention of genocide
11. Treaty law questions and the Convention
Appendix. The three principal drafts of the Convention.

Subject Areas: International human rights law [LBBR], Public international law [LBB]