ABSTRACT

This chapter offers a comprehensive overview of the Genocide Convention. It outlines various problems encountered in applying and enforcing the Convention, as illustrated by the Eichmann trial, Vietnam War, the US ratification process, and developments in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The chapter discusses the slow and steady evolution and application of the concept of genocide. The prevention of births was broadly conceived as encompassing castration, compulsory abortion, sterilization, and the segregation of the sexes. Provision for an international court would serve notice to those contemplating genocide that they would not evade punishment. International and domestic tribunals halting recognition of the crime of genocide was mirrored in the early opposition to a multinational treaty on genocide within the United Nations. The broad language of the Martens Clause provided a foundation for the eventual extension of international legal protections over individuals to times of peace as well as war.