What is Genocide?

Genocide represents the gravest of human crimes an intentional attempt to annihilate a community on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality. The word was introduced in 1944 by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who sought to describe atrocities beyond the scope of ordinary crimes. In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly enshrined it into international law through the Genocide Convention, declaring it a crime that the world must never ignore.

Five of History’s Most Notorious Genocides

The Holocaust

Perpetrators: Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany Victims: Roughly 6 million Jews Objective: To eradicate Jews from Europe through systematic extermination

Rwanda (1994)

Perpetrators: Hutu extremists Victims: Around 800,000 Tutsis killed in just 100 day

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