The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. It entered into force in 1951 after 20 States had ratified or acceded to it. Unlike most of the other main human rights treaties, the Genocide Convention does not establish a monitoring mechanism.
The Convention confirms that genocide is a crime under international law, identifies five acts which constitute genocide and lists five acts as punishable: genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide and complicity in genocide.