Genocide Convention
The dictionary definition for genocide is: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Raphael Lemkin coined the term which comes from the Greek word “genos” (race or tribe) and the Latin word “cide” (to kill).
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was established in 1948, defines genocide in Article Two as:
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.
Today there are over 149 nations that have ratified the Genocide Convention. Both the Republic of Namibia and the Federal Republic of Germany duly ratified this Convention and are bound by it.