Discussion of International Court of Justice Verdict in Dispute of Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia & Herzegovina Vs. Serbia and Monte Negro): Importance of International Court of Justice Opinion

Abstract

On February 26, 2007 the International Court of Justice, adjudicated, for the first time in history, in a dispute where one country (Serbia) was charged of genocide, committed against population of other state (Bosnia & Herzegovina). Interpreting 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Court brought first verdict within which holds that massacre committed against Bosniacs in July of 1995 is related to genocide, but determines there are not enough evidence that Serbia is directly responsible even for complicity in committed crime of genocide. Nevertheless, Court determined that Serbia violated 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, for omitting to prevent and punish those that committed crime of genocide in Srebrenica. Indeed, this verdict opens complex legal and political issues in a sense of direct responsibility of Serbia and possiblity of assigning special intent for committing genocide. Importance of verdict has to be seen in a way that genocide that has been committed in Srebrenica in July 1995 can not be denied any more, that it exists as a fact designated by independent international judicial body, that political manipulation and relativization is ineligible, that it is necessary for both sides to take responsibility toward community where crime of genocide has been committed.