| dc.description.abstract |
Following the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group, the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established to prosecute those most responsible
for their violations of international law. The Tribunal marked the first prosecution
of the crime of genocide. The unprecedented nature of the prosecution of the crime
resulted in initial inconsistencies and a lack of clarity of the definition. This
study examined the evolution of the legal definition for the crime of genocide through
qualitative analyses of the trial documents in selected case studies from the ICTR,
as well as subsequent cases of the prosecution of genocide outside of the jurisdiction
of the Tribunal. The cases highlighted a convergence over time for the establishment
of group definition, intent, and witness credibility across cases in the Tribunal,
with a diminishing role for witness testimonies in later cases of genocide. The eventual
coherent and clear application of the definition for the crime of genocide in the
ICTR provides valuable precedent for the potential of faster, more consistent future
prosecutions of crimes of genocide. In their slight divergence from the ICTR’s precedent,
however, later cases of genocide demonstrate the necessity of considering of the work
of international courts.
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