Question of intent makes genocide hardest crime to prove

The international court of justice in The Hague has yet to rule against any country for committing genocide. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

The definition of genocide outlined in a 1948 UN convention is quite vague and the crime is extremely hard to prove in the international courts.

The convention sets the bar for genocide as “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”.