The obligation to prevent the crime of genocide – the legal regulations versus practice

• Authors: Aleksandra Spychalska

Title variants

EN

The obligation to prevent the crime of genocide – the legal regulations versus practice

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The article presents the issue of the obligation to prevent the crime of genocide in reference o legal regulations and practice. The legal framework to analyse genocide is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The document imposes very specific responsibilities on the contracting parties – to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. However, the regulations lack precision and clarity. For instance, it has not been clarified what “preventing genocide” entails. No measures, methods or actions have been enumerated that could serve as means to prevent genocide. The unclear and unprecise regulations leave the parties a lot of space for interpretation, in a way legitimizing “not taking action”. The signatories shy away from the obligation to prevent the crime or intervene only if their particular interest is at stake. The events in Rwanda, Bosnia or Darfur are the shameful exemplifications of this fact.

Keywords

EN

genocide; genocide prevention; Raphael Lemkin; Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Opolski
• Journal: Opolskie Studia Administracyjno-Prawne
• Year: 2015
• Volume: XIII
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 135-148

Contributors

author

Aleksandra Spychalska

• Uniwersytet Wrocławski. Wydział Prawa, Administracji i Ekonomii