When does atrocity rise to the level of genocide?
Russia has claimed that its invasion of Ukraine was in part driven by the need to stop genocide in the Donbas. Ukrainians, in turn, accuse Moscow of committing genocide through war atrocities in towns like Bucha and statements by Russia’s president questioning the existence of a distinct Ukrainian identity. But experts say the accuracy of either side’s claims depends on high legal and moral requirements that neither may be able to meet.
What constitutes “genocide”?
Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” as a means to describe the crime of the Holocaust, and crimes like it. But as a term of international law, “genocide” is narrowly defined.
As codified in the 1948 Genocide Convention, it means crimes committed with the intention to destroy
