The ICJ’s Pernicious Plan to Redefine Genocide

Excerpt

The Trump administration is working to dismantle the International Criminal Court. But a different tribunal, the International Court of Justice, could become a greater threat to the security of the U.S. and its allies. The ICJ is deciding a case, Gambia vs. Myanmar, that could drastically lower the legal threshold for genocide. 

This is the express goal of some advocates, since it would pave the way for a genocide finding in South Africa’s pending case against Israel. The lower threshold would also unleash genocide claims against the U.S., other North Atlantic Treaty Organization members and their officials in international courts. It would do so in foreign courts, too, as at least 90 countries have enacted “universal jurisdiction” over genocide allegedly committed abroad by foreigners against foreigners.

Mr. Kittrie is a law professor at Arizona State University, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former State Department attorney. Mr. Munoz-Mosquera is a distinguished scholar at Boston College. He served as chief legal adviser to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s supreme allied commander, 2014-25.