The international legal character of genocide

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to genocide as one of the most challenging international crimes sanctioned by both national and international laws. The paper seeks to analyze the contemporary international legal character of genocide, its basic characteristics, features, and its consequences. The main purpose and the idea of this paper is to prove, through the analysis of this international crime, the extent of harm the genocide may cause to an ethnic, religious, racial, minority, or political group, and, at the same time, to draw attention of all subjects of international public law to the necessity of taking preventive and protective measures against genocide.

Keywords

• genocide
• genocidal intent
• war
• armed conflicts
• protected group
• punishment