75 years of the Genocide Convention

The Genocide Convention is the first human rights treaty in the history of the United Nations, adopted on the eve of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Seventy-five years later, the two foundational agreements remain closely interlinked.

Despite the lessons of the Holocaust, and the “never again” moment in history that led to the Convention, genocide occurred again and again ever since, inflicting intolerable harm and suffering. Preventing genocide, and bringing its perpetrators to account before all humanity, are imperative to fulfil our human rights.

The Convention calls on all States, and all of us, to maintain vigilance, and push for action to prevent genocide, everywhere. In reality, genocide is never unleashed without warning. It is always the culmination of serious human rights violations: identifiable patterns of systematic discrimination – based on race, ethnicity, religion or other characteristics – which have been ignored.

The prohibition of genocide is not an ordinary rule of international law: it is jus cogens – an overriding fundamental principle, at all times and without exception, for all humanity.

I urge all States that have not yet done so, to ratify and accede to this most fundamental of treaties, to protect our common humanity, and advance our universal human rights.