Timeline of Events
- 1946
- July 4
- October 1
- 1948
- June 25
- 1951
- January 12
- 1959
- August 28
- 1961
- December 15
- 1988
- November 5
- 1993
- April 22
- May 25
- 1994
- April 6
- November 8
- 1995
- July 11
- November 21
- 1998
- July 17
- September 2
- 2000
- October 23
- 2004
- June 23
- September 9
- 2006
- March 17
- July 30
- 2009
- March 4
- 2011
- July 9
UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide
January 12, 1951
The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide enters into force.
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish jurist, was born in 1900 on a small farm near the Polish town of Wolkowysk. Lemkin was determined to see “genocide” added to international law and began lobbying for this at early sessions of the United Nations. He was a critical force for bringing genocide before the nascent United Nations, where delegates from around the world debated the terms of an international law regarding the subject. On December 9, 1948, the final text was adopted unanimously. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide entered into force on January 12, 1951, after more than 20 countries from around the world ratified it.
