Genocide is a term used to describe violent crimes committed against a group with the intent to destroy the existence of the group, in whole or in part. The United Nations Genocide Convention, adopted in 1948, provides a legal definition of 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:
- 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
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Genocide is widely considered one of the most serious international crimes, alongside war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. Examples of genocides recognized by international courts and scholars include the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, the Armenian Genocide, and the Srebrenica Massacre, among others.
The term "genocide" was created by the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 by combining the Greek word "genos" (race, people) with the Latin word "cide" (killing). He coined it to help describe early 20th century attempts to destroy entire nations and ethnic groups, including the Holocaust.
Aside from genocide, criminal acts under the Genocide Convention include conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide. All of these acts are punishable. Genocide may be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), other international courts and tribunals, or national courts.