The intent element is very difficult to prove and has shielded many genocidal actors from conviction for genocide.

As the International Court of Justice reasoned in the 2007 case of ‘Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Serbia & Montenegro’, “It is not enough that the members of the group are targeted because they belong to that group, that is because the perpetrator has a discriminatory intent.

Something more is required. The acts … must be done with intent to destroy the group as such in whole or in part“. This court-created, hyper-specialised intent requirement is rare in the law, and creates the regrettably permissive approach to the genocidal acts that we see today.

Out of the tens of thousands of people who committed genocidal acts privately or as parts of armies, militias, or governments, only 150 had been successfully prosecuted by 2018.

However, even a solitary conviction could be enough, because once an actor has met the high intent requirement for genocide, his enablers can face charges for complicity that are easier to prove.

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