December 9, 2014 was the 66th anniversary of the approval of the Genocide Convention by the United Nations General Assembly. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved the following day. Below are links for additional information on the Genocide Convention.

Treaty Text: Overview of the 19 Articles
Translations: Authentic texts and Translations in 40 Languages
Legal definition: A detailed discussion of the crime. See also the Elements of the crime of genocide
The First 50 Years, 1948-1998 A Report by William Schabas

Ratification Status: 146 Nations are State parties; Over 40 Nations are NOT, including Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria.
Reservations: Reservations to the Genocide Convention
Two Drafts: Drafts of the Treaty from April 1947 and May 1948, including passages later omitted

Preamble
Art. 1: Crime under International Law
Art. 2: Genocide defined
Art. 3: Punishable acts
Art. 4: Responsible individuals
Art. 5: National legislation
Art. 6: Tribunals
Art. 7: Extradition

Lithuanian*

* These texts contain only Article 2 of the Genocide Convention in which the crime of genocide is defined. If you know of another translation of the Genocide Convention (including texts with article 2 only) in a language not on this page - please send us a message. We are especially wanting to include translations of Article II in Acoli, Akan, Amharic, Ateso, Baoulé, Bengali, Burmese (Myanamar), Dinka, Dioula, Farsi, Fur, Guarani, Gujarati, Hausa, Herero, Hindi, Igbo, Irish Gaelic, Javanese, Karen, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirundi, Kumam, Lango, Lingala, Macedonian, Masalit, Maya-Quiché, Ndebele, Nuer, Quechua, Senoufo, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, Urdu, Wolof, Yoruba and Zaghawa.

Bolivia is the newest State Party to the Genocide Convention ; Comoros and Sudan are also recent Parties.
On September 27, 2004 Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Mr. Souef Mohamed El Amine of the Republic of the Union of Comoros deposited instruments of accession to the Genocide Convention with the United Nations.
Last year on October 13, 2003 Sudan deposited instruments of accession to the Genocide Convention with the United Nations. The Convention entered into force for Sudan on 11 January 2004 in accordance with its article XIII. Reference: C.N.1204.2003.TREATIES-1 (Depositary Notification) [MSWord '.doc' file] List of parties to the Genocide Convention (UN status report (alternate) List of 50 nations NOT party to the Convention.

The final text of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted on December 9, 1948 by the 3rd U.N. General Assembly, meeting in Paris. Two earlier drafts (the Secretariat Draft and the Ad Hoc Committee Draft) were written in May 1947 and April 1948. These drafts incorporated many important and also controversial features which were not included in the final text. Among these features were: inclusion of political and linguistic groups in the list of protected groups, definitions of cultural genocide, provisions for suppression of preparations for genocide, provisions on universal jurisdiction and for an international criminal tribunal.

Read the evaluation and recommendations of William Schabas in the report The Genocide Convention at Fifty (1948-1998) in the online library of the US Institute of Peace. Also: Frontpiece, Table of Contents and Chapter 1 of William Schabas's Genocide in International Law, (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000) [23 page PDF file]

Declarations and Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1950-1951) International Court of Justice - Advisory Opinion of 28 May 1951 (offsite link)