The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948 and came into effect in January 1951. It defines genocide in legal terms, and is the culmination of years of campaigning by lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term by reference to the Simele massacre, the Holocaust, and the Armenian Genocide. All participating countries are advised to prevent and punish actions of genocide in war and in peacetime. The number of states that have ratified the convention is currently 137.

Definition of genocide

Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as

Article 3 defines the crimes that can be punished under the convention:

The convention was passed to outlaw actions similar to the Holocaust by Nazi Germany during World War II. The first draft of the Convention included political killings, but the USSR^[1] along with some other nations would not accept that actions against groups identified as holding similar political opinions or social status would constitute genocide, ^[2] so these stipulations were subsequently removed in a political and diplomatic compromise.

Ratification

The nations who have ratified the Convention, including the dates of ratification, are available from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. By 2001, these countries have ratified the Convention:^[3]

Note Provisos granting immunity from prosecution for genocide without its consent were made by Bahrain, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, the United States, Vietnam, Yemen, and Yugoslavia. Prior to its ratification of the convention, the United States Senate was treated to a speech by Senator William Proxmire in favor of this treaty every day that the Senate was in session between 1967 and 1986.

Breaches

Rwanda

The first time that the 1948 law was enforced occurred on September 2, 1998 when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide. The lead prosecutor in this case was Pierre-Richard Prosper. Two days later, Jean Kambanda became the first head of government to be convicted of genocide.

Yugoslavia

The first state to be in breach the Genocide convention was Serbia. In the Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro case the ICJ presented its judgement on 26 February 2007. It cleared Serbia of direct involvement in genocide during the Bosnian war,^[4] but ruled that Belgrade did breach international law by failing to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, and for failing to try or transfer the persons accused of genocide to the ICTY, in order to comply with its obligations under Articles I and VI of the Genocide Convention, in particular in respect of General Ratko Mladi?.^[5][6]

See also

• Command responsibility
• Human rights abuse
• International law
• War crimes

References

1. ↑
2. ↑ ]
3. ↑ UN list of states that have ratified the convention
4. ↑
5. ↑ ICJ:Summary of the Judgment of 26 February 2007 - Bosnia v. Serbia
6. ↑ Court Declares Bosnia Killings Were Genocide The New York Times, February 26, 2007. A copy of the ICJ judgement can be found here