Conclusions

This final chapter synthesizes the key findings of this study on the collective right to existCollective right to exist of national, ethnic, racial, and religious groupsReligious group within international criminal law on genocideLaw on genocide. The chapter reaffirms the inadequacy of existing theoretical frameworks in capturing the ontological connection between groupGroups existence and the lives of their members. To address this gap, it adopts a minimal descriptive definition of the collective rightCollective rights based on specific characteristics that emphasize the interdependence of the groupGroups and its members. The chapter emphasizes understanding the four protected groupsProtected groups as ‘survival unitsSurvival unit’ or bearers of ‘grouphoodGrouphood’, arguing against subjectivistSubjectivist interpretations that rely solely on perpetrators' perceptions, which can abstract the victims and undermine the recognition of the groupsGroups' concrete realities. Further, the chapter discusses the application of the law of attemptsAttempt in genocideGenocide, highlighting the necessity of anchoring the crime’s mens rea in the collective right to existCollective right to exist rather than solely in the perpetrator’s intent. It then focuses on the concepts of collective vulnerabilityVulnerability and situational non-dominanceNon-dominance to justify the exclusive protection of these groupsGroups, given their potential for severe victimizationVictimization when placed in non-dominant positions. Finally, the chapter calls for a deeper and more precise articulation of the collective right to existCollective right to exist within international criminal law, thus allowing the international criminal legal system to better fulfill its promise of safeguarding humanity’s inherent dignity and the rich tapestry of human societies.