International Law and Justice: The Genocide Convention
The Genocide Convention, also known as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), is an international agreement that makes genocide a crime and requires state parties to work to make it illegal. The United Nations General Assembly unanimously ratified it on December 9, 1948, during its third session, making it the first legal document to define genocide as a crime. It was also the first human rights pact. The Convention became operative on January 12, 1951, and as of 2022, 152 states had ratified it.
Any of the following five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" are considered genocide, according to the Convention. These five behaviors included: forcibly removing children from the group, killing group members, seriously harming them physically or mentally, imposing living conditions designed to dismantle the group, and preventing births. Instead than being picked at random, victims are chosen because of their actual or perceived participation in a group. The convention also makes participation in, encouragement of, or attempt at its commission illegal. Member states are barred from committing genocide and are required to work to have this prohibition enforced. Regardless of whether they are private citizens, government employees, or political figures protected by sovereign immunity, all of the offenders must be brought to justice.
Background
The Genocide Convention is an international legal document that formalized the crime of genocide for the first time. The Genocide Convention was the first human rights convention ratified by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948, and it represented the determination of the world community to "never again" following the crimes committed during the Second World War. With its adoption, international criminal law and human rights took a significant step closer to becoming what they are today.
Genocide is a crime that can occur in both times of war and peace, according to the Genocide Convention. At both the national and international levels, notably in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the definition of the crime of genocide as outlined in the Convention has received widespread adoption (ICC). Find out more about what constitutes genocide.
Importantly, the Convention places the onus of taking action to prevent and punish the crime of genocide on State Parties, including by passing pertinent laws and punishing offenders, "whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public employees, or private individuals" (Article IV). Both that duty and the ban against committing genocide have been recognized as principles of international customary law, making them applicable to all States, regardless of whether they have ratified the Genocide Convention.
Membership status
152 States have approved or joined the Genocide Convention (as of July 2019). 42 further United Nations members have not yet followed suit. Nineteen of those are from Africa, seventeen from Asia, and six from America. Details can be seen on the map below.
All United Nations Member States that are not yet parties to the Genocide Convention are urged to do so as soon as possible by the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide in order for the convention to gain universal membership.
The responsibilities of States under the Genocide Convention
- Obligation not to commit genocide (Article I as interpreted by the ICJ)
- Obligation to prevent genocide (Article I) which, according to the ICJ, has an extraterritorial scope;
- Obligation to punish genocide (Article I);
- Obligation to enact the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the Convention (Article V);
- Obligation to ensure that effective penalties are provided for persons found guilty of criminal conduct according to the Convention (Article V);
- Obligation to try persons charged with genocide in a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by an international penal tribunal with accepted jurisdiction (Article VI);
- Obligation to grant extradition when genocide charges are involved, in accordance with laws and treaties in force (Article VII), particularly related to protection granted by international human rights law prohibiting refoulment where there is a real risk of flagrant human rights violations in the receiving State.
International Day
The International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of This Crime is observed by the United Nations every year on December 9 in observance of the passage of the Genocide Convention. Watch the most recent celebration of the Convention's 70th birthday.
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