On Dec. 29, 2023, South Africa initiated proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the Israel alleging breaches of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”).
- The convention entered into force in 1951.
- The ICJ, which is based in the Hague in the Netherlands, is the UN’s principal judicial organ. It settles disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues.
The Convention on Genocide
- The Convention on Genocide was among the first United Nations conventions addressing humanitarian issues.
- The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) is an instrument of international law that codified for the first time the crime of genocide.
- The Genocide Convention was the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1948.
- According to the Genocide Convention, genocide is a crime that can take place both in time of war as well as in time of peace.
- The definition of the crime of genocide, as set out in the Convention, has been widely adopted at both national and international levels, including in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- The Convention establishes on State Parties the obligation to take measures to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide, including by enacting relevant legislation and punishing perpetrators.
- That obligation, in addition to the prohibition not to commit genocide, have been considered as norms of international customary law and therefore, binding on all States, whether or not they have ratified the Genocide Convention.
