Incitement To Genocide and the Rwanda Media Case

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, and 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 conceptualised in Common Law systems, namely as "encouraging or persuading another to commit an offence" and not merely "vague or indirect suggestion". Incitement is thus associated with provoking, which involves both causation and intent, namely "the intent to directly or indirectly 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.