Introduction

=Genocide and the United Nations﻿=

Genocide is a problem that is international in scale and destruction, and a problem that falls directly onto the responsibility of the United Nations. In Article II of UN Resolution 260 on genocide, the United Nation defines genocide as, "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Since the first UN Convention was passed on genocide in response to Holocaust and the horrors of World War II, the United Nations has evolved in the manner in which they approach acts of genocide throughout the world. The purpose of this website is to provide information on some of the watershed cases of the genocide since the creation of the United Nations and to help document the events and the UN's response using mulitmedia.

=﻿Defining Genocide: Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide=

The precursor to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was UN Resolution 96, which was presented by Cuba, Panama, and India in 1946 and was adopted later that year on December 11, 1946. The resolution defined genocide as, "the denial of the right of existence of entire human groups." The resolution also asserts that genocide is of international concern and it is an action punishable by an international body. The Resolution concludes by requesting for a more extensive draft on genocide in the future. [|Resolution 96: The Crime of Genocide]

The United Nations' first resolution on genocide came in the wake of the Holocaust and the crimes of Nazi Germany. It was passed on December 9, 1948 by the General Assembly in Paris, but the resolution came into force on January 12, 1951. [|UN Convention on Genocide]

This UN [|website] has links to various audio clips and interview of many of the individuals instrumental in the passing of the UN Resolutions on genocide, most important Dr. Raphael Lamkin, who was the first to coin and use the term, "genocide." In the audio clip Lamkin defends the passage of Resolution 96 and argues that, "people should realize how very crucial the genocide problem if for our civilization and for the very existence of the United Nations."



Raphael Lamkin was the central figure in bringing importance to genocide and bringing that urgency to the United Nations. He was Polish-Jewish lawyer that served the Polish army during the war and also was instrumental as a counsel to the Supreme Court and his conception of genocide was the basis of the Numemberg trial.

media type="youtube" key="wOGRP0JeAsc" height="349" width="560" [|This website at preventgenocide.org] also hosts a list of Lemkin's most important works with regard to establishing the term genocide and its importance to the world.