Negotiating the Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide
Lemkin proved himself a relentless activist. He worked tirelessly as a lobbyist, a strategist, and an agitator, in order to establish the Genocide Convention with the help of the United Nations on December 9, 1948.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
International Law in the Age of Genocide
While Lemkin was able to convince diplomats at the United Nations to pass the Genocide Convention, his work was not complete upon his death. The job of lobbying governments across the world to ratify the convention was left to ordinary people.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
France, Great Britain, and Russia Joint Declaration, 1915
In 1915, France, Great Britain, and Russia, issued a declaration condemning the ongoing Armenian genocide carried out in the Ottoman Empire and threatening to hold the perpetrators accountable.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
Excerpt from Axis Rule in Occupied Europe by Raphael Lemkin
This reading contains an excerpt from Axis Rule in Occupied Europe by Raphael Lemkin, where he coins the term genocide.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
“Sovereignty cannot be conceived as the right to kill millions”
Raphael Lemkin was outraged when he heard that the mass murder of the Armenians went unpunished. He was haunted by the case of Soghomon Tehlirian—an Armenian survivor of the genocide who killed Mehmed Talaat, minister of the interior of the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey).
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
Territorial Changes of the Ottoman Empire 1817 - 1913
View a series of maps highlighting changes to the Ottoman Empire in green.
![Map of the Ottoman Empire Territory in 1817](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Territorial_changes_of_the_Ottoman_Empire_1817_800x600.jpeg?h=ccb565a9&itok=AN0JbOzo)
Tableau peint par George Catlin, 1832
Portrait peint d'un homme des Premières Nations en tenue traditionnelle.
![Painted portrait of a First Nation man in traditional attire.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/22_Catlin.jpg?h=ce934c5c&itok=dFptIN--)
Indigenous Canadian Woman on a Reserve
A portrait of an indigenous Canadian woman on a reserve, 1930.
![A woman stands in front of a small, run down wooden house.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Culture%26Identity_2015_Canadianwomanonreserve_FH24273.jpg?h=31c0c765&itok=QKtuMsIw)
Femme autochtone canadienne dans une réserve
Sur cette photographie se trouve une femme autochtone canadienne dans une réserve, 1930.
![A woman stands in front of a small, run down wooden house.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Culture%26Identity_2015_Canadianwomanonreserve_FH24273.jpg?h=31c0c765&itok=QKtuMsIw)
The Changing Geography of the Ottoman Empire (1300–1920)
Maps showing the growth and contraction of territory controlled by the Ottoman Empire from 1300 through 1920.