<P> The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260 . The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 . It defines genocide in legal terms , and is the culmination of years of campaigning by lawyer Raphael Lemkin . All participating countries are advised to prevent and punish actions of genocide in war and in peacetime . The number of states that have ratified the convention is currently 147 . </P>
international convention on prevention and punishment of genocide 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide