Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-pw477 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-31T04:25:27.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - The Specific Intent to Commit Genocide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

William A. Schabas
Affiliation:
Middlesex University, London
Get access

Summary

The definition of genocide in the 1948 Convention requires that at least one of the punishable acts listed in the paragraphs of article II be committed with the specific intent or dolus specialis to destroy the protected group. This high threshold is often difficutl to prove, notably when the evidence of intent is essentially circumstantial and based upon infererences drawn from a pattern of conduct. International courts and tribunals have taken the view that this intent must be to destroy the group physically, rejecting an approach whereby it is sufficient to deprive the group of its culture, its language or its ancestral territory. The definition accepts that the intended destruction be ’in whole or in part’, to which case law has added the requirement that this be a ’substantial part’. The words ’as such’ conclude the definitiion; they have been considered to point to a requirement of racist or discriminatory motive.

Type
Chapter
Information
Genocide in International Law
The Crime of Crimes
, pp. 213 - 278
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×