QUESTIONS TO GUIDE VIEWEING - ANSWERS 1. How does Cóman Kenny connect nationality deprivation resulting in statelessness and the commission of atrocities against Jewish people in the context of World War II? World War II shows how denationalization is used in a discriminatory and dehumanizing manner. The Nuremberg Laws, which deprived Jews of German citizenship, resulted in Jews being powerless to act against other state decisions. Deprivation of citizenship of Jews was therefore an underlying element of the crimes subsequently committed against them. According to Hannah Arendt, ‘Jews had to lose nationality before they could be exterminated’, because ‘one could do as one pleased’ with the stateless. 2. Why does Cóman Kenny hold that mass arbitrary deprivation of nationality resulting in statelessness can be viewed as an ‘other inhumane act’ under the Rome Statute, and can therefore be criminalised? The extent to which statelessness can pervasively impact almost all facets of a person’s life, as well as the anguish and uncertainty of effectively being excluded from society, can cause severe physical and mental harm. Therefore, depending on the facts of a particular situation of mass arbitrary deprivation of nationality resulting in statelessness, the gravity of the suffering or injury caused to the mental or physical health of those affected could be qualified as an ‘other inhumane act’ under the Rome Statute and can therefore be criminalised. 3. Why does Cóman Kenny argue that mass arbitrary nationality deprivation resulting in statelessness can amount to the crime of apartheid? The crime of apartheid encompasses inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups (broad definition of race) and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime. A state policy to arbitrarily deprive a group of nationality resulting in the statelessness of its members could be considered an inhumane act, committed to maintain a regime of institutionalised and systematic domination of one group over another, thereby amounting to the crime of apartheid. 4. What are the components of the crime of genocide under international law? Why does Cóman Kenny argue that mass denationalisation can amount to the crime of genocide? Genocide is characterised by: • • the infliction of serious bodily or mental harm to members of a particular group the infliction of life conditions upon a group of people that could result in their physical destruction. If denationalisation is carried out on a large scale with the intention to destroy a specific target group, and results in that group becoming stateless, it can be considered an act of genocide.