Protected Groups Under The Genocide Convention - The Trends And Prospects

Genocide is regarded as the most heinous crime that humans are capable of committing against fellow humans. This is because it targets for extermination of specific groups rather than individuals. In all periods of history, millions of people have been exterminated across the world on account of their national, ethnic, racial, religious background and other group identities, affiliations or relationships. Yet conceptualizing the term genocide is proving problematic, elusive and controversial; and genocidal killings are sometimes disputed or denied, whereas more and more cases of genocidal killings continue to multiply. The entrenchment of legal and institutional frameworks to deal with this crime has not recorded concomitant success. Using doctrinaire and non-doctrinaire methods, this research has found that genocide can be planned and/or executed by state actors and non-state actors alike, though today, increasingly, non-state actors are in the forefront of perpetuating this crime. Genocidaires mobilize, elevate and manipulate group identities and ideological leanings to breed or exacerbate their crimes. Genocide can be aggressor-based, or bi-lateral; it can be systematically planned, or can occur in the flash of rage. Economic factors also underline genocidal conflicts. Hence, in this thesis I will seek to shed some light on the nature, the reason for and the consequences of this conceptual divide between the narrow legal concept of genocide and the broader popular understanding. I will examine whether this challenge of conceptions in fact being addressed by the Courts and Tribunals with jurisdiction on genocide by changing the criteria of group determination to broaden the legal concept of genocide, and if there are other ways this challenge should be met.rnIn conclusion, I will contend that the scope of protected groups under the Genocide Convention shall be revisited in order to ensure an inclusive legal protection to those vulnerable unprotected groups.

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