Complicity in genocide

US President Joe Biden (left) meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Oct 18, after Hamas’ attack. By now, Israeli forces have killed over 23,500 Palestinians in its revenge attack on Gaza. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL courts often fail to convict a genocidal actor because legal precedents have read an extremely narrow and heightened intent requirement in the crime of genocide. Yet, the intent requirement is surmountable, and if surmounted in any individual case, it opens up new avenues for the prosecution of those who support genocide.

Relatively recent convictions for genocide include Bernard Munyagishari, Jean Uwinkindi, and Jean-Paul Akayesu in Rwanda; and Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, and Radislav Krstic in the former Yugoslavia.