About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

4 Int'l Crim. L. Rev. 65 (2004)
Proving and Punishing Genocide at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

handle is hein.journals/intcrimlrb4 and id is 65 raw text is: International Criminal Law Review 4: 65-81, 2004. 65 © 2004 Koninklijke Brill NV Printed in the Netherlands. Proving and punishing genocide at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda JAMES MEERNIK* Introduction Genocide, the killing of a people, has occurred throughout human history. Conquerors like the Assyrians, the Mongols, and the Crusaders committed genocide in the course of war to eliminate their enemies. The term, geno- cide was only coined in 1944 by the Polish jurist, Raphael Lemkin,' while the act of genocide did not become criminalized until after World War 11.2 In December, 1948, states came together under the auspices of the United Nations to pass the 'Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide'. After the Armenian genocide during World War I and in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, humankind vowed that such acts would never again happen. Unfortunately, genocides and genocidal acts con- tinue to occur, most recently in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. But until the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993 and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1994, there were no international courts to conduct trials for the crime of genocide. Rather, trial and punishment were left in the hands of national courts. Aside from Israel's trial of Adolf Eichmann, most judicial proceedings in places like Romania and Equatorial Guinea were more like political show trials than serious and fair efforts at discovering truth.3 * Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas. I am indebted to the staff of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for their advice and assistance in the summer of 2001. The views expressed herein are entirely my own, as are any errors. 1 W. Schabas, Groups Protected by the Genocide Convention: Conflicting Interpreta- tions from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Journal of International and Comparative Law 6 (2000, p. 376). 2 R. Smith, State Power and Genocidal Intent: On the Uses of Genocide in the Twentieth Century in L. Chorbajian and G. Shirinian (eds.), Studies of Comparative Genocide (1999). 3 H. Fein, Introduction, in H. Fein (ed.), Genocide Watch (1992).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most