When did the UN General Assembly declare genocide punishable under international law?

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Railway tracks lead to the brick entrance building and guard tower of Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp near Oswiecim, Poland. — Genocide Freight train tracks leading to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Nazi Germany's largest concentration camp, near Oświęcim, Poland.

The United Nations General Assembly declared genocide a crime punishable under international law in December 1946 through the passage of Resolution 96-I.1

This resolution was a direct result of the momentum generated by the Nürnberg trials and the exposure of atrocities committed during World War II. Following this declaration, the UN General Assembly further solidified these protections in December 1948 by approving the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which established the formal legal framework for addressing and punishing acts of genocide globally.1

The recognition of genocide as a crime is a fundamental moral imperative, as it affirms the inherent right of all human groups to exist and be protected from systematic destruction.1