International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime

International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime is to observe and respect the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the first human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, to honour the lives of the victims of genocide, to “never again” allow such horror, and to punish the crime of genocide. Article 2 of 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 … , including:

• killing members of the group;
• causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and
  
• forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The Convention confirms that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or war, is a crime under international law which parties to the Convention undertake to prevent and to punish (article 1).