ONE OF the recent genocide cases is that of Ratko Mladic. He was charged with genocide when he led the Bosnian Serb forces during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995.
In 2017, he was convicted on charges of genocide as well as crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Based on the records, he terrorized the civilian population of the Bosnian capital and killed 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica.
The word āgenocideā is not new to us especially when the current administration started its drug war. But what is really genocide?
The word āgenocideā consists of the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing. Accordingly, genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, or religious group.
Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide enumerates the five categories of genocide:
1) Killing members of the group;
2) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
3) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
4) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
5) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
To punish a contracting party, intent must be proven. Intent can be established through the existence of organized plan or policy. When it comes to its target or victim, it must be a group and must be intentionally targeted.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has automatic jurisdiction over the nationals of State Parties involved. Also, it has jurisdictions over the nationals of the countries that are not parties to the Stature provided that either the state of the territory where the crime was committed or the state of nationality of the accused consents.
The case of Mladic is an episode of genocide that remains after 25 years. It is considered one of the reasons for the establishment of the ICC.
The decision in this case is significant because it represent a degree of justice to all the victims and the trauma they experienced./PN
