December 9 - International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide: History and Traditions

Every year on December 9, Russia and other countries observe the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide, dedicated to all those who died or suffered because of atrocities directed at members of certain nationalities or population groups. In 2024, the commemorative date falls on Monday. About the history and traditions of this day read in the material "Izvestia".

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide on December 9: the history of the commemorative date

In March 2015, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on the prevention of genocide. The document was drafted at the initiative of Armenia, which that year marked the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Among other things, it called on all participating countries to organize national days of remembrance for the victims of the genocide in order to prevent new heinous acts of brutality against certain groups of population.

In addition, the resolution included a recommendation to the UN General Assembly to establish an International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Genocide on December 9. The date was not chosen by chance, because it was on this day in 1948 that the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The idea was supported by the UN members, and already in April 2015 the commemorative date received an official status.

The main purpose of the Day of Remembrance is to raise awareness of the Convention, as well as to preserve the memory of those who died or suffered as a result of acts of genocide.

The term "genocide" was formulated by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944. It was first used in judicial practice during the Nuremberg trials of 1945-1946, when Nazi criminals were indicted. However, the term does not appear in any verdict, as there was no corresponding norm in international law at that time.

The Convention on the Prevention of Genocide of 1948 was the first international legal document to qualify this crime. This term began to be understood as actions aimed at the destruction of any national, racial, ethnic or religious group.

The term "genocide" includes not only murder, but also other manifestations of cruelty towards members of other nationalities, races and religions. This includes the infliction of serious physical harm, the creation of conditions designed to completely destroy a certain group of people, the prevention of the birth of children from members of these groups and the forcible transfer of children to other societies.

Traditions of the International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Genocide in 2024

Traditionally, on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide, mourning actions and rallies are held around the world. People bring flowers to monuments and memorials, meetings with relatives of the victims are held. Museums prepare exhibitions devoted to the events of the Holocaust (extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany in 1930-1940s) and other acts of mass extermination of peoples.

Also on this day, meetings and gatherings are held at various levels aimed at preventing interracial, interreligious and interethnic discord and manifestations of hatred towards certain peoples. The media and social networks publish interviews with human rights defenders and activists who oppose genocide and any other manifestations of violence.

International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Genocide: Genocide in the Twentieth Century

History knows many examples of the destruction of one people by another. The reasons for such conflicts have ranged from competition for resources and territory to manifestations of national or religious hatred. However, the twentieth century was marked by several major acts of genocide, the consequences of which are still being felt today.

The event that prompted the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide was the Holocaust. Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies systematically exterminated the Jewish population of European countries. People were isolated in ghettos, deprived of property and civil rights, subjected to torture and inhuman experiments in concentration camps, used for slave labor.

According to official data, about 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust, but there is still no complete list of victims. Other "enemies of the Third Reich" were also subjected to total extermination: Roma, Slavs, persons of non-traditional orientation, disabled, mentally ill and others. In addition, the leadership of Nazi Germany hatched plans for the extermination and forced resettlement of peoples living in Poland and the USSR.

Another major act of genocide was the extermination of the Christian Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Between 664,000 and 1.2 million Armenians died as a result of ethnic cleansing between 1915 and 1916. It was this event that convinced Raphael Lemkin of the need for a legal classification of genocide and an organized international struggle against this crime.

In 1994, massacres of the Tutsi ethnic group took place in Rwanda. In 100 days, members of radical nationalist groups killed about 1 million people. After that, the UN Security Council created the International Tribunal for Rwanda. In 1998, it issued the first official verdict on the genocide case in history.

Earlier "Izvestia" told about the history and traditions of the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Fascism.