If you read the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which is the only international legal definition of the crime, you’ll quickly realize that the whole thing hinges on intent. Genocide is only genocide when the perpetrators intend to commit it.
There seem to be some people out there right now who think that genocide is not happening in Darfur. One of their main points is that there is no clear evidence that the Government of Sudan or the Janjaweed have the intent to exterminate the people of Darfur.
This is always one of the most difficult parts of dealing with genocide. Not every case can be as cut-and-dry as the Holocaust, when the Nazis essentially stated “we want to kill all the Jews.” Aside from some statements made by individual Janjaweed soldiers, there is no such clear evidence coming out of Darfur today.
Maybe someday we’ll have better historical evidence of what President Bashir and his henchmen want to accomplish in Darfur, but for the time being, I’d like to introduce the concept of implied intent. The people - at all levels - committing the atrocities in Darfur would have to be brainless to realize that if they don’t stop doing what they’re doing in Darfur, the people there will eventually cease to exist. The fact that they have done nothing to stop this process makes it pretty clear to me what their intentions really are.
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