AN EXAMINATION OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
Abstract
Table of Contents
Table of Statutes
Table of Cases

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1       Background of the Study
1.2       Statement of the Problem
1.3       Justification of the Study
1.4       Aim and Objectives of the Study
1.5       Scope of the Study
1.6       Research Methodology
1.7       Literature Review
1.8       Organizational Layout

CHAPTER TWO
CONCEPT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW AND GENOCIDE
2.1       Introduction
2.2       Development of International Humanitarian Law
2.3       The Role of Custom in the Development of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
2.4       The Relationship between IHL and the Crime of Genocide
2.4.1    The Meaning and Nature of International Humanitarian Law
2.4.2    The Meaning and Nature of the Crime of Genocide
2.4.3  The Development of Genocide and its Criminalization in International Humanitarian Law
2.4.4    Genocide as an International Crime
2.4.5    An Overview of the Constitutive International Instrument on Genocide

CHAPTER THREE
AN ANAYLSIS OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW (IHL)
3.1       Introduction
3.2       The Meaning and Nature of the Concept Genocide
3.3       The Scope of the Concept of Genocide in International Law
3.4       The Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in International Law
3.5       Specific Instances of the Commission of Genocide in International Law
3.6       The Nigerian Experience
3.6.1    The Odi Massacre
3.6.2    The Tiv Massacre
3.6.3    Boko Haram
3.6.4    Ombatse Militia in Nasarawa State
3.6.5    The Plateau State Religious Crisis

CHAPTER FOUR
THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)
4.1       Introduction
4.2       Procedure of the Court
4.3       The International Court of Justice and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security
4.4       The Functions of the Court

CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
5.1       Summary
5.2       Findings
5.3       Recommendations
            Bibliography



ABSTRACT
This   thesis    entitled    “An    Examination    of    the    Crime   of    Genocide   under    International

Humanitarian Law” dealt with crime of genocide as an act of aggression which of recent presented serious threats to international peace and security. This is because this crime when committed within a particular state lead to murder of innocent people to such alarming propositions that the international community could not ignore. Global incidences of the commission of the crime of genocide led to concerted efforts of the United Nations to make genocide an international crime so that its perpetrators could be brought to justice through punishment. On this note, this thesis aimed at examining the legal framework of the crime of genocide through the study of the various constitutive international instruments on the crime of genocide and also that of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the judicial institution responsible for fight against genocide in International Law. However, the statement of problem of this research is that following the recent experiences in the commission of the crime of genocide the international community has found it difficult to bring perpetrators for punishment before the international criminal court due to one reason or the other. For example, the consideration of the circumstances to be designated as genocide by the Rome Statute is not clear. In addition, it is noteworthy to state here that, a fundamental issue which generated the interest of the writer in this area of research is that there is no corresponding will by states to prevent the commission of the crime or stop it from escalating. State parties and indeed even the United Nations always fail to use the term Genocide to describe hostilities that clearly fall within the meaning of the crime of Genocide. Thus, United Nations and state parties usually capitalize on the loopholes and inherent defects in the laws of Genocide to suit their political purposes. For instance the persistence of Genocide in Bangladesh, Uganda, Cambodia, Rwanda (Hutus and Tutsis) and Bosnian Muslims in the former Yugoslavia are testimonies of failure of intervention by the international community to stop high profile atrocities. Indeed, when ethnic cleansing was going on in the territory of former Yugoslavia, Darfur, Rwanda between Tutsis and Hutus, the United Nations, the US government and other countries were called upon to intervened but they failed. Against this backdrop therefore, the objective of this thesis was to identify the factors militating against the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide and to proffer possible measures solutions to addressing them; and further to consider the possibility of adopting same measures in Nigeria so as to eradicate instance of genocide in the country in view of the present Nigerian experiences. In view of this therefore, the finding of the writer was that the general weakness of international law constitutes a major problem of lack of enforcement to the institution of the punishment and prevention of genocide. In this regard, the writer concluded by recommending (among others) that the governments of Member States of the international community particularly the Security Council should be proactive, effective, prompt and jurisprudentially sound on the improvement and enforcement of the international legal processes that hold individuals accountable to the law so that, never again should would-be violators of these laws succeed in claiming that they are entitled to hide behind a wall of sovereignty.


CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1             Background of the Study
International crime such as genocides, war crimes, crimes against humanity and
crime of aggression have always presented serious threats to international peace and security. Such crimes which often committed within a particular state always have a spill-over effect in other states (by way of displacement of persons) and; such crimes also have the potential to engulf an entire region in crises (by way of refugees) and perpetration of more atrocities (such as rape, looting and etcetera). The prevalence of these events is not new to the world. This is because events before the advent of the United Nations Charter in 1945, showed that conflicts starting in a particular region of a particular continent can spread to engulf the neighboring region or even the world at large because at that time wars are considered to be the only solution of resolving conflicts.

Consequently, such wars paved way for the commission of other crimes such as loss of life or injury to civilians, wide spread and severe damage to the environment, attacking and bombarding by whatever means to towns and villages, torture, persecution enslavement and indirect transfer of civilian population all of which are considered to be crimes in violation of the existing international law and in particular the principles of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) within the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and its two Additional 1977 Protocols together with the Hague Regulations. Indeed, the concern of punishing the offenders for the purposes of deterring further occurrence in the....

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