What is genocide?

The definition of genocide can be found in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which has been approved and proposed for signature and ratification or accession by General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December 1948, and entered into force on the 12 January 1951 (thereafter "the Convention"). 

According to article II of the Convention, "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: 

(a) Killing members of the group; 

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; 

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

According to article III of the Convention, genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide and complicity in genocide shall be punishable. 

Persons charged with those crimes "shall be tried by a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed or by such international penal tribunal as may have jurisdiction with respect to those Contracting Parties which shall have accepted its jurisdiction" (article VI of the Convention). 

This article has been written by Chara Palekythriti, Lawyer - Legal Consultant ©

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute advice or otherwise.