UN Event, New Monograph, Honor Rafael Lemkin, Creator of Genocide Convention

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 19 June 2001

The American Jewish Committee is pressing for universal ratification of the Genocide Convention as it commemorates Rafael Lemkin, the man who coined the word "genocide" and spearheaded the convention's adoption by the United Nations more than 50 years ago.

Lemkin is "one of the unsung heroes of the international human rights movement," said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. "He infused the battle against genocide with new insights and passion, almost single-handedly drafted an international multilateral treaty declaring genocide an international crime, and then turned to the United Nations in its earliest days and implored Member States to adopt it."

Secretary General Annan's acknowledgement of the extraordinary role played by Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish international lawyer, came at an event organized at the UN by AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. The June 13 event, attended by more than 200 human rights activists, UN ambassadors and UN Secretariat officials, marked the first time the UN publicly recognized Lemkin.

"We have had many war heroes; we are in desperate need of peace heroes, and Lemkin is one such," said Robert S. Rifkind, Chair of the Jacob Blaustein Institute, and Honorary President of the American Jewish Committee.

On the eve of the centenary of Lemkin's birth on June 24, and 50 years after the Genocide Convention came into force, AJC's Blaustein Institute released a monograph, "An Epitaph for Rafael Lemkin," by Dr. William Korey. The publication details Lemkin's life story and the experiences that influenced his thinking and commitment to demand that mass murder based on ethnicity, race and religion become an international crime.

"The career of Raphael Lemkin testifies to an extraordinary degree how the efforts of a single individual can produce a revolutionary change," writes Dr. Korey. "The very first UN Human Rights treaty, preceding by a day the adoption of the historic Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was largely his doing. From the very name of the crime to the text of the treaty to the lobbying that brought it into reality—it was all Lemkin."

Sixty countries have yet to ratify the convention.

"Lemkin's lifework offers an inspiring example of moral engagement," Secretary-General Annan said in prepared remarks that were read by his wife Nane Annan, niece of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who personally saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.

"It falls now to us, not just governments but also the non-governmental organizations that have been so active in this cause, to carry on in his spirit," Mr. Annan said.

"Our effort to revive Lemkin's legacy will be made meaningful only through renewed commitment to prevent and punish the crime of genocide manifested by universal ratification of the Genocide Convention and the International Criminal Court before the end of this decade," said Mr. Rifkind.

The American Jewish Committee played a critical role in securing the inclusion of human rights in the UN Charter and in formulating the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through its Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, AJC continues to press for human rights norms to be enforced around the world.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org