Incitement to Genocide and the Rwanda Media Case

Abstract

In this paper I will examine in detail the case of the journalists and broadcasters in Rwanda, and I will do so as a vehicle for saying something about the idea of incitement, an often overlooked basis of individual liability. As an initial take on the idea of incitement, the ICTR urges that we think of it as it has been conceptualized in Common Law systems, namely, “as encouraging or persuading another to commit an offence” and not merely by “vague or indirect suggestion.” Incitement is thus associated with provoking, which involves both causation and intent, namely, “the intent to directly prompt or provoke another to commit genocide.” In Rwanda, the ICTR said that the actions of the Media Case defendants constituted the kind of “direct incitement” that is prosecutable under the crime of genocide.

This paper is cut from several chapters of my book manuscript, “Genocide: A Normative Account.” My other work in this area concerns the three other substantive areas of international criminal law: Crimes Against Humanity: A Normative Account (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005); War Crimes and Just War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); Aggression and Crimes Against Peace (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).