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13 - Prevention of Genocide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

William A. Schabas
Affiliation:
Middlesex University, London
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Summary

The title of the Convention and article I both refer to the obligation to prevent genocide. However, the Convention provides no other guidance on the scope of this obligation. In its 2007 judgment in Bosnia v. Serbia the International Court of Justice held that Serbia had had been in breach of its obligation to prevent genocide because it failed to exert pressure on Bosnian Serb forces who were preparing to commit genocide at Srebrenica. The doctrine developed by the Court was quite radical in that it recognized an extraterritoriaoutside their own gterritory unless l dimension of the obligation, one that varied in scope depending upon the influence the State Party was capable of exerting. Prevention of genocide is also contemplated in the General Assembly resolution on the responsibility to protect. Means employed to prevent genocide must be otherwise lawful. States cannot use force to prevent genocide unless authorised pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations.

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Chapter
Information
Genocide in International Law
The Crime of Crimes
, pp. 598 - 647
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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