Genocide, the gravest crime to prove

THE HAGUE: Genocide, the key charge arising from the Srebrenica massacre two decades ago, is the gravest crime in international humanitarian law, yet it is also the most difficult to prove.

Derived from the Greek word “genos,” for race or tribe, and the suffix “cide” from the Latin for “to kill,” genocide is defined by the United Nations as an “act committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”