INTRODUCTION

The previous chapter explained the path to genocide and concluded that the prevention of genocide needs to tackle the different factors and phases that contribute to leading to its perpetration. It was argued that every factor and phase of the process is important and needs measures tailored to it. In so doing, given the nature of the process to genocide, it was argued that prevention must be undertaken at three levels. These are the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. It was questioned if and how the legal framework for the prevention of genocide needs to be adjusted to these levels. This requires the examination of the existing laws on the prevention of genocide. Therefore, this chapter primarily seeks to show the origin and definition of genocide as well as the process of the adoption of the Genocide Convention in order to understand the context in which this convention was adopted which helps in the understanding of the spirit of the convention as far as the scope of prevention of genocide is concerned. This is important to understand before analysing in deep what the scope of the obligation to prevent genocide entails to its bearers in next chapters. Thus, the present chapter explains in its first section the historical context in which the Genocide Convention was drafted and explained at its initial stage.

Furthermore, this chapter examines the legal status of the obligation to prevent genocide in order to answer the question whether it is a legal obligation on its own or a component of the obligation to punish. It also examines who the bearers of the obligation to prevent genocide are under both the Genocide Convention and customary international law and discusses the temporal scope of the obligation to prevent genocide. Finally, it discusses the ICJ test on knowledge of serious risk of genocide.

ORIGIN AND DEFINITION OF GENOCIDE: A PREVENTION PERSPECTIVE

It is important to show the context in which the laws on genocide came into existence and to see what can be learned from this for the prevention of genocide.