Reflecting on the Genocide Convention in its Eighth Decade

Abstract

Abstract 9 December 2018 marked the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Genocide Convention by the United Nations General Assembly. Article 6 of the Convention explicitly grants adjudicatory jurisdiction to the territorial state and to an international penal tribunal. Yet, the textual content of the Article has not prevented other types of extraterritorial jurisdiction from applying to the crime, such as universal criminal jurisdiction. This article analyses the development of universal jurisdiction over the crime of genocide, and proposes that the main advancements occurred as a result of a number of key events in the 20th century. Providing a review of state practice and opinio juris, the article analyses how universal jurisdiction applies to genocide and outlines its scope.