Step 5 of 77

The Genocide Convention (1948)

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The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was approved by the UN General Assembly in December 1948, the day before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Convention defines genocide as:

"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."

This definition has important features Maria should understand:

Intent matters: Genocide requires intent to destroy a group, not just to kill many people. Mass killings without the specific intent to destroy a group are not technically genocide under the Convention, though they may be crimes against humanity.
Group categories are specific: National, ethnic, racial, religious. Political groups are NOT covered, a controversial omission insisted on by the Soviet Union, which was conducting political purges and did not want such actions to qualify as genocide.
Destruction in whole or in part: Killing every member of a group is not required. Substantial destruction qualifies.
Multiple methods: Direct killing is not the only method. Preventing births, deliberately creating conditions for destruction, or forcibly transferring children all count.