Genocide Convention — 1948 United Nations resolution which legally defined genocide
The first international treaty to legally define and criminalize genocide, binding state parties to prevent and punish it.
Key Facts
- Adopted
- 9 December 1948, UN General Assembly
- Entered into force
- 12 January 1951
- State parties (as of Feb 2025)
- 153 countries
- Term 'genocide' coined by
- Raphael Lemkin, 1944
- Acts constituting genocide
- 5 defined acts with intent to destroy a group
- First UN human rights treaty
- Unanimously adopted by UNGA
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
World War II and the Holocaust exposed the absence of any legal framework capable of defining or prosecuting mass atrocities targeting national, ethnic, racial, or religious groups. Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who coined the word 'genocide' in 1944, campaigned for international recognition of such crimes. A 1946 UN General Assembly resolution acknowledged genocide as an international crime and called for a binding treaty.
On 9 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The treaty defined genocide as five specific acts committed with intent to destroy a group in whole or in part, criminalized complicity and incitement, required all perpetrators to be tried regardless of official status, and obligated signatory states to prevent and punish the crime.
Entering into force in January 1951, the Convention shaped international and domestic law worldwide. Its definition was adopted by the International Criminal Court and hybrid tribunals, and the International Court of Justice ruled its principles constitute a peremptory norm binding all nations. The Convention's mandatory ICJ jurisdiction clause has enabled landmark cases including the Rohingya genocide case and litigation related to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.