How to understand the declaration of genocide in Gaza, after what happened in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur

\ u00A0Ualestina Independent International Committee on the Occupied Territories of the United Nations. Palestina has been the first instance to state clearly that genocide is taking place in Gaza. The work currently being carried out is equivalent to that carried out by other investigative mechanisms in the face of genocide in Bosnia(former Yugoslavia), Rwanda and Darfur(Sudan).

What is genocide?

According to the 1948 Convention on Genocide and the Rome Statute established by the International Criminal Court, this is an international crime involving individual responsibility and is committed when there is a intention to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racialor religious group .

Genocide takes place through any of the following actions:

   1 Group Massacre.

   2 Serious or irreparable injury to both physical and mental integrity.

   3. Establish living conditions that cause total or partial destruction.

   4. Measures to prevent births within the group.

  5.

The UN Commission has established that Israel has committed the first four of these five crimeswith the PalestiniansinGaza, and has done so with the intention of destroying all or part of the  protected .

You don't need a minimum number ofvictims to carry out an act of genocide , and the way you commit murder doesn't matter either.

What is it and how does the Commission that approved the genocide in Gaza work? 

This is the IndependentInternational Commission of Inquiry , chaired by Navi Pillay . Indeed, Pillay has been a South African magistrate, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and president of theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

It functionsas a mechanism for truth and clarification of circumstances  It is technical and temporary and aims to document crimes independently so that other organs (national or international) can act judicially.     

Its creation was agreed by the Human Rights Council in 2021,withthe aim of investigating the increasingly serious human rights violations that had occurred in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

The United Nations is the continuation of several decades of investigative instruments for the Palestinian territories ofthe West Bank, Gaza and the A0east Jerusalem .

Which other courts are investigating what's happening in Gaza?

The International Court of Justice, which took precautionary measures in January 2024, ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts that could constitute genocide, but has not yet issued a formal declaration on genocide.

The Prosecutor's Office ofthe International Criminal Court has also investigated the situation in Palestine, citing crimes of war and against humanity probable crimes and the possibility of genocide, but has not issued a final verdict. Anly issued arrest warrants against senior Israeli political leaders, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu .

The precedents of international courts in recent decades show thatthese courts take years to pass judgement.

Human rights associations, including experts from the UN and other civil human rights organizations, have produced reports showing that Israel's actions in Gaza correspond to the characteristics of the genocide  .

What similarities can be made with the genocide investigations in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur? 

In thecase of Bosnia , the genocide took place between 1992 and 1995, and a UN Committee of Experts gathered information and evidence on serious violations of international humanitarian law that were taking place there.

Since 2000, he has issued several judgments on the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

This case had a precedent in UN investigation and documentation procedures, ranging from political reports to the use of technical, forensic and judicial mechanisms, as in the Gaza case\u00A0.

Withregard to Rwanda , while genocide was taking place, the UN appointed a special rapporteur to investigate the massacres. He travelled to Rwanda and was the first to declare genocide.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was later established, which was able to compile and document the circumstances of the genocide.

Withregard to Darfur (the western region of Sudan), the UN established an International Commission of Inquiry in 2004, the final report of which, a year later, concluded that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed and that genocide had been possible, although there was insufficient evidence of an express intention to destroy a group as such.

The result of his work was a support for the Security Council's referral of the situation in Darfur to the ICC, a formal instance that accused then-President Omar al-Bashir of genocide against fur, masalit and zaghawa ethnic groups.