Genocide Convention

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948. It entered into force on 12 January 1951. Ever since, on 9 December, the United Nations marks the adoption of the Genocide Convention with the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.

Genocide can be committed either in time of peace or in time of war. States are obliged to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.

Contents of the Genocide Convention

• Article 1-4: definition, acts, punishment
• Article 5-6: national codification and trials
• Article 7: non-political nature of the crime, extradition
• Article 8: prevention and suppression
• Article 9: disputes
• Article 10-19: entry into force, ratification, denunciation, revisions, administrative details

Main provisions of the Genocide Convention

Article 2 Definition of genocide

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3 Punishable acts

The following acts shall be punishable:

• Genocide;
• Conspiracy to commit genocide;
• Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
• Attempt to commit genocide;
• Complicity in genocide.