Codification and Jurisprudence of Genocide

Context:

The recent report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, reigniting global debate on the definition, legal thresholds, and enforcement mechanisms of genocide under international law.

Origin and Legal Codification of the Term ‘Genocide’

Coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1944 in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.
Derived from Greek word genos (race or tribe) and Latincide (killing).
Coined in response to the Armenian genocide (1915–17) and later reinforced by the Holocaust during World War II.

Legal Definition under the Genocide Convention (1948)

Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948.
Contains two essential elements:
- Mental element: Intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.
- Physical element: Any of the following five acts:
  - Killing members of the group.
  - Causing serious bodily or mental harm.
  - Inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group.
  - Imposing measures to prevent births.
  - Forcibly transferring children to another group.

Key International Instruments

1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide:
- Binding treaty obligating states to prevent and punish genocide.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), 2002:
- Grants ICC jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.