Question

what is an UN definition of genocide

Answer 1

The United Nations definition of genocide is set out in Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention). Article II reads:

" ... In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Key points (brief):
- The crime requires a specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group.
- Protected groups are national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups (political and social groups are not covered by the Convention).
- The list in Article II is illustrative of the types of acts that can constitute genocide.
- The Convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948; the International Court of Justice and international criminal tribunals have further interpreted and applied the definition in case law.

If you want, I can summarize how courts have applied the definition (elements of the crime, examples from jurisprudence, or differences from crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing).