The international crime of genocide

Approximate read time: 5 minutes 

1. What is genocide?

Genocide is an international crime. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the convention) is the treaty that criminalises genocide. The definition of genocide is narrow under the convention. It requires any of the following acts to have been committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group:^[1]

• 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 can be committed in both times of peace and war.^[2] The following acts are punishable under the genocide convention:^[3]

• genocide
• conspiracy to commit genocide
• direct and public incitement to commit genocide
• attempt to commit genocide
• complicity in genocide

No one is immune from a charge of genocide. Perpetrators can be punished regardless of whether they are private individuals, public officials or constitutional rulers.^[4]

As of July 2025, there were 153 parties to the genocide convention including the UK.^[5] However, even if they are not a party to the convention, all states are bound by the principle that genocide is an international crime. This is because the convention’s principles are part of general customary international law.

State parties to the convention are required to take various measures including enacting domestic law to prevent genocide and enable perpetrators to be punished.^[6] The Genocide Act 1969 was the first piece of legislation to criminalise genocide committed in the UK. This was subsequently repealed and replaced with the International Criminal Court Act 2001 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the International Criminal Court (Scotland) Act 2001 for Scotland. These acts are where the domestic offence of genocide remains to date. The acts also provide UK courts with powers to prosecute British nationals or residents for genocide committed abroad after 2001.

In addition to the convention, the UK is a signatory to several other international agreements that aim to prevent genocide. This includes the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC).^[7] The ICC is responsible for investigating and prosecuting international crimes, including genocide.^[8]

2. How is genocide determined?

International and domestic courts are responsible for convicting people or states of genocide. However, only a limited number of events such as the 1994 Rwanda genocide have been determined by a court as genocide to date. “Genocide is a difficult crime to prove”, according to President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars Melanie O’Brien.^[9] This is because there must be evidence of specific intent to be found guilty.

Referring to an event as genocide can also be politically controversial. The UN requires its officials to use the term ‘genocide’ only when referring to events that have been determined by a court to constitute genocide.^[10] It warns that where a genocide determination has not been made by a court, use of this term could be “vigorously contested” by affected communities and could result in political tensions.

Despite this, some countries have chosen to recognise certain events as genocide in absence of an official court ruling. For example, members of various parliaments including the European and UK Parliaments have passed resolutions and motions in recent years to officially recognise the Ukrainian Holodomor as genocide.^[11] The Holodomor—also known as the ‘great famine’—took place in Ukraine between 1932 and 1933 following the implementation of agricultural collectivisation policies introduced under Joseph Stalin’s Soviet regime. More information on the recognition of the Holodomor as genocide can be found in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Ukrainian Holodomor’ (17 November 2023).

3. What is the UK government’s position?

Successive UK governments have long held the position that the government should not make genocide determinations of their own accord. This position was restated by Stephen Doughty, minister of state for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in a government response to a written question in the House of Commons about the genocide convention on 2 June 2025.^[12] Mr Doughty said that “any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred is matter for a competent national or international court” after considering all available evidence, “rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies”.^[13] To date, the UK government has officially acknowledged five instances of genocide following determinations by competent courts.^[14] These instances are the genocides in Rwanda, Srebrenica and Cambodia, in addition to the Holocaust and the genocide against the Yazidi people.

4. What recent accusations of genocide have there been?

The Republic of South Africa has alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the genocide convention in relation to Palestinians in Gaza.^[15] Israel has denied these allegations.^[16] In December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the state of Israel, asking the ICJ to determine if Israel had breached the genocide convention.^[17] The latest court information on the case can be found on the ICJ’s website.^[18]

In March 2025, Sudan instituted proceedings against United Arab Emirates in the ICJ alleging the UAE had violated the genocide convention.^[19] Sudan argued the UAE had been complicit in genocide by providing direct support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces during the civil war in Sudan.^[20] However, in May 2025 the ICJ concluded it did not have jurisdiction in this case because of the terms on which the UAE signed up to the genocide convention.^[21]

5. Read more

• UN, ‘Explainer: What is the genocide convention?’, 11 January 2024
• House of Lords Library, ‘Genocide: Bringing perpetrators to justice’, 21 May 2021
• House of Lords Library, ‘Accusations of genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China’, 18 November 2021
• The Conversation, ‘Genocide: 70 years on, three reasons why the UN convention is still failing’, 18 December 2018

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Cover image by photoangel on Freepik.

An editorial change was made to this briefing on 24 July 2025.