What is Genocide?

Definitions:

Genocide: The crime of genocide covers acts committed (actus reus) with a particular intent to destroy (dolus specialis), in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.¹

Actus reus: An actual action that is a fundamental component of a crime, as compared with the perpetrator’s state of mind or intent.²

Mens rea: (i) A person’s knowledge that his conduct is criminal; (ii) a criminal intent; (iii) wrongful purpose or guilty knowledge.³

Dolus specialis: The specific intent to cause a specific kind of harm.⁴ In the context of genocide, dolus specialis refers to the specific or special intent of the perpetrator to destroy a protected group.⁵

Further explanation

Pursuant to the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute, genocide is committed when one or more of the following five categories of underlying acts are committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

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.⁶

In relation to the required mental element, it should be noted that each of the underlying acts above needs to be committed intentionally (that is, not negligently);⁷ and, for each act to constitute genocide, it must additionally be committed with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such. In relation to the third category, ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’, it is required to establish that the act was not only deliberate (as opposed to accidental or collateral) but that such act was inflicted “as a way to contribute to the over-arching purpose of destroying the group, in whole or in part.”⁸ In relation to the fourth category, ‘imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group’, it is required to establish that the measures were intentionally imposed not only as a punishment to the group but also to prevent births within the group “so as to contribute to the ultimate destruction of that group”.⁹

The two paragraphs above are copied directly from the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s Report from 2025 which concluded that Israel is committing Genocide. (italics and bold formatting are mine).

Notice that the charge of committing genocide can only be laid on a person/group/entity if all three elements – (i)actus rea, (ii) mens rea, and (iii) dolus specialis are established. This is important to keep in mind because the UN claims that it followed these standards and definitions in its assessment of Israel’s actions in Gaza. A detailed analysis of the UN report is presented in a separate article, which shows that the UN failed to adhere to these standards in reaching its conclusions.

An important detail to be aware of is that when determining genocidal intent (dolus specialis), the reason for that intent is ignored. Which means, it doesn’t matter why the perpetrator intends to destroy the group. It doesn’t matter even if it’s because the other group tried to destroy them first and they are now wishing to destroy the former group in retaliation. It will still be considered a genocidal intent.

Furthermore, as long as the actus rea (specific acts listed above) are committed with genocidal intent, against members of a “protected group”, it will always be treated as genocide, irrespective of who those members are. For example, consider the Gaza situation. Although it’s disputable, the UN considers the Palestinians as a protected group. Now, if someone has a genocidal intent to destroy the Palestinians, even if they commit the actus reus against Hamas Terrorists ONLY, it will still be treated as genocide, as long as the motivation for those acts is the intent to destroy Palestinians.

Understanding these nuances is important to have a meaningful discussion about any genocide claims.

1. Numbered item 13; Page 5 of the Report. Original reference: “ICJ, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures, Order, 26 January 2024, para. 45. See also ICJ, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2007, p. 43, 26 February 2007, para. 198.” ↩︎
2. https://legaldictionary.net/actus-reus/ ↩︎
3. https://legaldictionary.net/mens-rea/ ↩︎
4. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195369380.001.0001/acref-9780195369380-e-574 ↩︎
5. K. Ambos, “What does ‘intent to destroy’ in genocide mean?,” International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 91, no. 876, pp. 833–858, 2009. doi:10.1017/S1816383110000056 ↩︎
6. Numbered item 14; Page 6 of the Report. Original reference: Genocide Convention, art. II; Rome Statute, art. 6. ↩︎
7. Numbered item 15; Page 6 of the Report. Original reference: ICJ, Case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2007, p. 43, 26 February 2007, para. 186. ↩︎
8. Numbered item 15; Page 6 of the Report. Original reference: Mettraux, G., International Crimes: Law and Practice (Volume I: Genocide), Oxford University Press, 1st edition, 2019, p. 278. ↩︎
9. Numbered item 15; Page 6 of the Report. Original reference: Mettraux, G., International Crimes: Law and Practice (Volume I: Genocide), Oxford University Press, 1st edition, 2019, pp. 281-282. ↩︎