Genocide & socio-economic rights: A response

In an earlier blog post, Leiden Law Professor Larissa van den Herik revisited the legal definition of genocide. Her post implies that genocides committed through policies of socio-economic deprivation were not originally envisaged by the drafters of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. I argue in this contribution that even the narrow and traditional interpretation of genocide (limited to 'physical or biological destruction') covers at least some violations of socio-economic rights.