[Mónika Ambrus is an assistant Professor at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam]
The interpretation of the expression
‘members of the group’ in the different
actus rea under Article 2 of the Genocide Convention through which genocide can be committed as well as that of ‘
racial, ethnic or national origin or religious affiliation’ in the chapeau of the same article essentially boils down to who can be seen as victim of genocide (how the protected groups and their members can be identified). As simple an exercise this might seem to be, both case law and scholarly discussion, including this online symposium of the
Leiden Journal of International Law, have shown that this is, indeed, not the case. Two main reasons could be identified underlying the different positions: (1) the one relates to the
dimension one focuses on in the definition of genocide and the conceptualization of the relationship between the two dimensions, and (2) the other concerns the question of
interpretation and the role of the judiciary.
