GENOCIDE IN THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW: THE CRIME AND FORMATION OF THE CONCEPT OF THE CRIME

Abstract

Although the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted in 1948, the acts of genocide were known to humankind long before that. Throughout the history, attitudes to mass killings of people in the theory of international law and legal consciousness have been changed. Although these crimes have been known for a long history of international law, the concept of punishment for them has not been shaped uniformly during different epochs. The 19th and early 20th centuries were the period of active development of the idea of genocide as an international crime, however it was finally formed with the adoption of the mentioned Convention.