The Genocide Convention

75 years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the first universal human rights treaty of the United Nations era and the keystone of the international legal regime against genocide. In the second edition of their work, Lars Berster, Björn Schiffbauer and Christian J. Tams engage with the Genocide Convention’s provisions on an article-by-article basis and elucidate how they contribute to the global fight against genocide. Their Commentary offers an in-depth analysis of the Convention’s nineteen provisions. It offers authoritative guidance on the definition of genocide, on the duties of States to prevent and punish it, and on the Convention’s implementation regime. For the second edition, the Commentary has been updated and expanded to take account of new developments, including the rise of genocide-related proceedings before the International Court of Justice, including in high-profile cases between The Gambia and Myanmar and Ukraine and Russia; new decisions, by national and international courts, specifying the scope of the prohibition against genocide; recent case-law of the European Court of Human Rights bearing on genocide. The Commentary will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners working in international law, criminal law, genocide studies and human rights.