In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

Killing members of the group;

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

(UN source)

It is abundantly clear to me that the sexual violence, murder, kidnapping, and other abuses committed by Hamas (and other Palestinian individuals) on October 7th fits the above elements.

• The acts were "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" specifically Israelis and/or Jews depending on precisely which Hamas spokesperson you are listening to. And this message has been shouted by Hamas for years.
• in the furtherance of that goal, Hamas killed Israeli Jews on 10/7
• in the furtherance of that goal, Hamas caused serious bodily and mental harm to Jews on 10/7
• in the furtherance of that goal, Hamas kidnapped children (i.e. "forcibly transferring children to another group") among over a hundred other civilians on 10/7.

Despite this, I don't see any serious legal or international body actually come out and say it. Hamas is a genocidal organization.

If a wounded soldier enters a field hospital in a neutral zone and “Doctors Without Borders” disarm that soldier, what legal implications would this have under international law and the laws of war for both the medical personnel and the mentioned soldier?

The UDHR states that, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Is "dignity" defined or explained in detail in any international instrument ? Can someone help point me to literature or scholarship that explains "dignity" in context of international law ? Most texts that I have read are from the fields of philosophy, psychology or sociology.

Hello! curious undergrad student here I was wondering of anyone can enlighten me on the jessup 2024 case as Ive read through the facts it seems to be that it is leaning towards Antrano, have you have any insights on this?

Hello! I was looking for a good alternatives to Bin Cheng's General Principles of Law as applied by International Courts and Tribunals, since I was finding it hard to find a pdf of it. Any thoughts?

• I recently submitted following news article, which was published on April 29.:

Attorneys inside and outside the administration urge Biden to cut off arms to Israel | So far more than 90 lawyers have signed on to a legal letter alleging Israel’s conduct in Gaza violates U.S. and international law.

While the letter is still circulating for signatures, so far more than 90 lawyers have signed on, including from the departments of Justice, Labor and Energy, along with lawyers at the European Commission and in the private sector.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/29/lawyers-israel-arm-sales-biden-00154958

• Please be informed that Politico shared a copy of the letter on May 7. Following newsletter includes the link.:

Politico National Security Daily https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/05/07/more-resignations-over-israel-and-a-failed-policy-00156536

185 lawyers, including 27 currently in the administration signed the letter. The letter is dated May 7, 2024.

From the letter:

The U.S. Government’s weapons transfers to Israel likely violate our international obligations under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948. Transfers of weapons, munitions, and military aid should cease immediately.

[...].

Conclusion
While we welcome the calls of the United States Government for increased humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, doing so while supplying Israel with unconditional military aid to continue its bombardment on the Gaza Strip is not only totally disingenuous, but also severely inadequate to fulfill the U.S.’s obligations to prevent and punish genocide, and to not encourage or assist in violations of the Geneva Conventions.

The law is clear and cannot be disregarded and ignored. Serious action is needed to avoid U.S. complicity in breaches of domestic and international law. Words are not enough.

Article 1 and 25 both deal with right of people to chose their political system and utilise their natural resources freely and fully.

Can these articles be used to avoid the obligations in the covenant such as under article 2

There is an obligation to ensure compulsory primary education for all. And to as far as possible encourage or intensify primary education for those who did not receive or complete primary education.

Can the scope of primary education be higher than domestic legislation provides ? I.e in my place primary education is only available to those under 15 and there are no adult literacy programmes (though we have a very high poverty rate)

If hackers are in international waters committing a financial crime, can interpol or some country arrest them even at that?

Hello all! I am trying to get a better understanding of the genocide convention and more specifically subsection C. It was fairly difficult to find discussions about it however these: Legal Standard for Genocide Intent: An Uphill Climb for Israel in Gaza Suit

AN INHERENT RIGHT TO HEALTH: REVIVING ARTICLE II(C) OF THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION

have helped form my current understanding of article 4(2)(c).

Just for the sake of explaining, article 4(2)(c) of the Statute provides that genocide can be committed by “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

Examples of such acts punishable under Article 4(2)(c) include (based on ICTR and the ICTY), inter alia, subjecting the group to a subsistence diet; failing to provide adequate medical care; systematically expelling members of the group from their homes; and generally creating circumstances that would lead to a slow death such as the lack of proper food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, or subjecting members of the group to excessive work or physical exertion.

Setting aside if one finds the comments made by some of Israeli leadership to be genocidal, based on the Rwanda tribunal that convicted Jean-Paul Akayesu of genocide, “Special intent,” as applied to the Genocide Convention means, “The offender is culpable because he knew or should have known that the act committed would destroy, in whole or in part, a group.” This means, and as I have seen specified elsewhere by the court, the “specific intent” can be “inferred” from the “general context” of the actions undertaken.

Actions like completely destroying ~50% of homes, destroying or damaging 84% of health facilities, shutting down the economy and education system, restricting aid while enforcing rapid evacuations that rob Palestinians of their means of subsistence, etc. all seemingly constitute actions that can have no other effect but cause irreparable harm to the Palestinian people even if one wants to argue the intent was to take out Hamas. It appears that as Israel has more or less full control over imports into Gaza and has a duty as the occupation force to maintain the territory, as such it is fully responsible for the ongoing famine, disease, dehydration, etc. that they have caused by withholding essential needs while destroying a large portion of vital infrastructure in Gaza.

This seems to cross the bar in regard to action and intent but perhaps I am missing something. I know there is not a lot of case law in regard to this particular statute and intent is rarely found but this seems to be correct.

Thanks for the help.

Hello! Since 2020, I've been applying for the scholarship to take be part of the courses in the Hague Academy on International Law. Everytime I got rejected xd, so I decided to pay full fee. In this sense, does someone know how much does it cost?

Also, does someone know which are the profiles they are searching for the people who get networking invitation? (See the last lines in the picture).

Thaaank uuu.

Like chemical weapons, Is it possible to ban autonomous weapons that might uses AI in future.

Is there any communication between ICC and ICJ? And is there any communication between UN investigators and ICC?

Besides the ones that already apply to everyone. Are there any international obligations to meet the specific needs of women.

From reprobation of liberty , I mean imprisonment or mention in war time or in peace time.

For example, if someone just took an MA in International Law without a law school background, is there any way for that person to practice international law? Like for example, international commercial arbitration?

If not, then what are the possible career paths for someone with an MA in International Law without the law school background and of course, license on their country of origin.

Hi everyone,

I really need your assistance, because I haven't found this info anywhere.

If I get a refusal on political asylum in one of the EU countries, can I apply for asylum in other EU country?

I would appreciate also the links to the official documents.

Thanks in advance! :)

For months I have been in a disagreement with a government office. Basically they say that an international treaty that allows me to do X is no longer in force. But when I ask for some sort of documentation which proves that the treaty was actually repealed, they say they have no documentation and I just should take their word for it. A FOIA request turned up empty.

I strongly suspect that the treaty was not officially suspended, and that they just want to ignore it. If I am correct they are in breach of not only the treaty but also the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

The question is, is there anything that I as an individual can do to force their hand? I don't have monetary damages, but my rights are being infringed upon.