Course material

1. Answer: In 1944, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish prosecutor, invented the
Answer:
In 1944, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish prosecutor, invented the phrase "genocide" in his
paperback, namely “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.” This ppaerback is made up of the Greek
prefix genos, the meaning of which is race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, the meaning of
which is murder. The United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/96-I) acknowledged
genocide for the first time to be a criminal activity under universal law in 1946. The 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide
Convention) enshrined it as a separate criminal activity (1). 149 nations have signed the
Convention (as of January 2018). The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has consistently
specified that the Convention encapsulates precepts of broad customary universal law. It
means irrespective of whether a state has upheld the Genocide Convention, it is all indebted
by the concept that genocide is regarded as a crime forbidden under universal
commandment. The International Court of Justice has also specified that the banning of
genocide is an arbitrary and capricious standard of universal law (or ius cogens) and that
no deviation from it is permitted (2).
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide
Convention) is considered to be as a piece of universal commandment that enshrined the
criminal activity of genocide. The strengths of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide are deliberated below:
The Genocide Convention was regarded as the initial treaty on human rights adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly on 9th December, 1948, and it symbolised the universal
society's pledge to "never again" succeeding the crimes perpetrated throughout World War
II. Its deployment was a crisis moment in the development of universal human rights and
international criminal legislation as people understand it nowadays;
Genocide is, as per the Genocide Convention, considered to be a criminal activity that can
happen both throughout war and throughout peace. The Convention's description of
genocide is increasingly acknowledged at both the nationwide and universal levels,
including in the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute of 1998. (ICC); and
Notably, the Convention levies on State Parties the obligation to take measures to
prohibit and penalise mass killing, like implementing relevant regulations and penalising

2. wrongdoers, "whether they are constitutionally answerable rulers, government servants, or
private citizens" (Article IV). This obligation, along with the banning against obliging
genocide, is recognised as standards of international customary law and thus legally
enforceable on every states, irrespective of whether they have upheld the Genocide
Convention (3).
Despite of having several strengths, the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide encompass some weaknesses too, which include:
Prohibition is considered to be as a crucial portion of the convention and parties can call
upon the United Nations to interfere when they have indication of a genocide. The real
application of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, though, has been
doleful; and
When atrocities occur, the term "genocide" is adapted far too carefully and slowly; and
Even after ratifying the UN Convention, the global community is failing to effectively combat
genocide (4).
References
1. Lippman M. The convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide:
fifty years later. InGenocide and Human Rights 2017 Nov 28 (pp. 11-110). Routledge.
Cushman T. Is genocide preventable? Some theoretical considerations. Journal of Genocide
Research. 2003 Dec 1;5(4):523-42.
Simonovic I. Attitudes and types of reaction toward past war crimes and human rights
abuses. Yale J. Int'l L.. 2004;29:343.
Kreß C. The crime of genocide under international law. International Criminal Law Review.
2006 Jan 1;6(4):461-502.