ABSTRACT
When the United Nations (UN) Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and its counterpart for Rwanda, did the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide's aim of punishing genocidaires begin to gain practical significance. This chapter addresses the notion of punishment as being a possible means of preventing genocide, traces its existence in international discussions on prevention, and assesses its validity. It describes the deterrence argument"—the assumption that there is a deterrent effect stemming from possible punishment of a criminal act. The deterrence argument also retained its leading role among the objectives of international criminal justice in regard to the establishment and functioning of the International Criminal Court. Following the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trials and the entering into force of the UN Genocide Convention in 1951, decades passed without any international trials of war criminals and genocidaires.
