- 9th December 2022 marks the 74th anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (‘Genocide Convention’), the 1st Human Rights Treaty, by the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Background:
i. The UNGA adopted the resolution A/RES/69/323 on 11 September 2015 and proclaimed December 9 of every year as the ‘International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of This Crime’.
2022 Event:
The United Nations organised events on the topics: Genocide, Genocide Prevention, and International Days.
What is Genocide?
i. The word “genocide” (meaning ‘killing’) was 1st coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book ‘Axis Rule in Occupied Europe’.
ii. Genocide was 1st recognised as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/96-I).
iii. Later, it was codified as a separate crime in the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The Genocide Convention:
i. The Convention represents the international community’s commitment to “never again” and contains the 1st international legal definition of “genocide,” which has been widely adopted at the national and international levels.
ii. It also establishes a duty for State Parties to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
iii. The Convention confirms that genocide, whether committed in peace or war, is a crime under international law that parties to the Convention undertake “preventing and punishing” (article 1).
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Prevention of Genocide:
i. The UN’s Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect has developed a Framework of Analysis to identify some of the main risk factors for atrocity crimes.
ii. Individual States have the primary obligation under international law to prevent atrocity crimes.
3 Pillars of the Responsibility to Protect:
I- The responsibility of each State to protect its populations;
II- The responsibility of the international community to assist States in protecting their populations;
III- The responsibility of the international community to protect when a State is manifestly failing to protect its populations.
About the United Nations (UN):
Secretary-General- António Guterres
Headquarters- New York, USA
Establishment- 1945
