This book examines the position of ‘contextual elements’ as a constitutive element of the legal definition of the crime of genocide, and determines the extent to which an individual génocidaire is required to act within a particular genocidal context. Unlike other books in the field of the study of the crime of genocide, this book captures the nuance and the complex issues of the debate by providing book-length comprehensive examination of the position of contextual elements in light of the evolution of genocide as a concept and the literal legal definition of the crime of genocide, which expressly characterized the crime with only the existence of an individualistic intent to destroy a group. With scholars of international criminal law, students, researchers, practitioners in the field, and international criminal tribunals in mind, the author tackles many of the issues raised on the position of contextual elements in both academic literature and judicial decisions. Nasour Koursami is the Director of Applied Research and a Lecturer at the National School of Administration in Chad. He studied law at Cardiff and Bristol Universities and holds a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Edinburgh.

International criminal law has developed considerably in the last decade and a half, resulting in a complex and re-invigorated discipline. This has impacted directly on the popularity of the study of the subject, particularly on postgraduate law degrees. This textbook serves these courses by providing an introduction to the principles of international criminal law and processes. Written by four international lawyers with experience of teaching international criminal law, it is accessible yet sophisticated in its approach. It covers substantive international criminal law, the institutions designed to enforce it and their procedures, and the international law applicable to domestic prosecutions of international crimes. It will be essential reading for students and teachers of international criminal law. In addition, practitioners and researchers in the field (and in related fields such as criminal law), students of international law and international relations will find this introduction invaluable.

Judge Mettraux's four-volume compendium, International Crimes: Law and Practice, will provide the most detailed and authoritative account to-date of the law of international crimes. It is a scholarly tour de force providing a unique blend of academic rigour and an insight into the practice of international criminal law. The compendium is un-rivalled in its breadth and depth, covering almost a century of legal practice, dozens of jurisdictions (national and international), thousands of decisions and judgments and hundreds of cases. This first volume discusses in detail the law of genocide: its definition, elements, normative status, and relationship to the other core international crimes. While the book is an invaluable tool for academics and researchers, it is particularly suited to legal practitioners, guiding the reader through the practical and evidential challenges associated with the prosecution of international crimes.

This book examines the rapid development of the fundamental concept of a crime in international criminal law from a comparative law perspective. In this context, particular thought has been given to the catalyzing impact of the criminal law theory that has developed in major world legal systems upon the crystallization of the substantive part of international criminal law. This study offers a critical overview of international and domestic jurisprudence with regard to the construal of the concept of a crime (actus reus, mens rea, defences, modes of liability) and exposes roots of confusion in international criminal law through a comprehensive comparative analysis of substantive criminal laws in selected legal jurisdictions.

An unquestionably important, oral-history collection presents the first-person stories of survivors of the genocide in Darfur, a region in western Sudan where the Sudanese government is accused of abetting the murder of an estimated 400,000 persons. The genocide in Darfur erupted in 2003 but its seeds had been planted years before. Following years of attacks on their villages, livelihoods and persons, as well as political and economic disenfranchisement by the Government of Sudan, the black Africans of Darfur rebelled. In retaliation, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had his troops and an Arab militia, the Janjaweed, carry out a scorched earth policy that resulted the in killing of noncombatants, men, women, children, and the elderly. In the process, females of all ages were raped, hundreds of villages were burned to the ground, and over two million people were forced from their villages. By mid-2007, estimates of those who had been killed or had perished due lack of water, starvation, or injuries, ranged from a low of 250,000 to over 400,000. This two volume set presents the harrowing stories of survivors of this genocide, and includes a collection of official documents delineating the international community's reaction to the crisis in Darfur. The author has interviewed two dozen Sudanese refugees who fled their homes and made their way to the neighboring country of Chad, recording their experiences prior to the war, during various genocide events, and following their escape. Those interviews comprise Volume One. In Volume Two, the author has selected critical documents issued by the United States, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court, each of which presents critical insights into how the international community viewed the scorched earth policy and atrocities and how it reached to such. An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide is an invaluable record of how easily a powerful government can turn against a country's weaker minorities.

Judge Mettraux's four-volume compendium, International Crimes: Law and Practice, will provide the most detailed and authoritative account to-date of the law of international crimes. It is a scholarly tour de force providing a unique blend of academic rigour and an insight into the practice of international criminal law. The compendium is un-rivalled in its breadth and depth, covering almost a century of legal practice, dozens of jurisdictions (national and international), thousands of decisions and judgments and hundreds of cases. This first volume discusses in detail the law of genocide: its definition, elements, normative status, and relationship to the other core international crimes. While the book is an invaluable tool for academics and researchers, it is particularly suited to legal practitioners, guiding the reader through the practical and evidential challenges associated with the prosecution of international crimes.

The Annotated Digest of the International Criminal Court, 2009, is the fourth in a series of volumes which compile the most significant legal findings in public decisions rendered by the ICC. This volume addresses questions considered by the ICC in 2009 including substantive issues involving the elements of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and command responsibility, as well as questions about the right to legal assistance, the legal recharacterization of charges, and the participation of victims in proceedings before the Court. Abstracts compiled in this series were selected based on the following criteria: (i) clarification of a legal issue or interpretation of a legal provision; (ii) implementation of a legal provision; and (iii) meaningfulness with respect to international justice, human rights, or international humanitarian law.

International Criminal Law provides a comprehensive overview of an increasingly integral part of public international law. It complements the usual accounts of the substantive law of those international crimes tried to date before international criminal courts and of the institutional law of those courts with in-depth analyses of fundamental formal juridical concepts such as an 'international crime' and an 'international criminal court'; with detailed examinations of the many international crimes provided for by way of multilateral treaty and of the attendant obligations and rights of states parties; and with sustained attention to the implementation of international criminal law at the national level. Direct, concise, and precise, International Criminal Law should prove a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners of the discipline of international criminal law.

Tackling one of the most confusing and controversial issues in the field of international criminal law — i.e., the genocidal intent element, this monograph seeks to develop an account of genocidal intent from a collectivist perspective. Drawing upon the two-layered structure of the crime of genocide composed of the ‘conduct level’ and ‘context level’, it detects the genocidal intent element at the ‘context level’. The genocidal intent found in this manner belongs to a collective, which significantly departs from the prior individualistic understandings of the notion of genocidal intent. The author argues that the crime of genocide is not a ‘crime of mens rea’. Collective genocidal intent at the ‘context level’ operates in a way that renders the crime of genocide itself a criminal enterprise. The idea of genocide as a criminal enterprise also suggests that genocide is a leadership crime in respect of which only the high-level actors can be labeled as principals (as opposed to accessories). The book criticizes the dominant individualistic approaches to genocidal intent (in particular: the knowledge-based approach) which have thus far governed the relevant jurisprudential and academic analysis. It further demonstrates that the hidden notion of ‘collective genocide’ silently governs the relevant international jurisprudence. Practitioners and academics in the field of international criminal law and related disciplines will find in this book a new approach to the crime of genocide. The text is the first-ever book-length exposition of a collective account of genocidal intent. Its accessibility is highly enhanced by relevant footnotes.Sangkul Kim is Lecturer at Korea University in Seoul and Research Fellow with the Centre for International Law Research and Policy (CILRAP).He served as Associate Legal Adviser at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (2004-2008). He earned law degrees from Korea University and Georgetown University Law Center.

Elements of Genocide provides an authoritative evaluation of the current perception of the crime, as it appears in the decisions of judicial authorities, the writings of the foremost academic experts in the field, and in the texts of Commission Reports. Genocide constitutes one of the most significant problems in contemporary international law. Within the last fifteen years, the world has witnessed genocidal conduct in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the debate on the commission of genocide in Darfur and the DR Congo is ongoing. Within the same period, the prosecution of suspected génocidaires has taken place in international tribunals, internationalised tribunals and domestic courts; and the names of Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and Saddam Hussein feature among those against whom charges of genocide were brought. Pursuing an interdisciplinary examination of the existing case law on genocide in international and domestic courts, Elements of Genocide comprehensive and accessible reflection on the crime of genocide, and its inherent complexities.