Activities - Initiatives

Raphael Lemkin International Prize for the International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities

Prevention Policy Planning               Research and Cooperation              Initiatives

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer, coined in 1943 the word “genocide” from the root words genos (Greek for family, tribe, or race) and -cide (Latin for killing). As result of his own experience with holocaust and after analyzing other past events of mass atrocities, Raphael Lemkin presented a draft resolution on a Genocide Convention to a number of countries in an effort to persuade them to sponsor the resolution. With the support of the United States, the resolution was placed before the General Assembly for consideration. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was formally presented and adopted on December 9, 1948. In 1951, Lemkin only partially achieved his goal when the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide came into force, after the 20th nation had ratified the treaty. This treaty and its content have served the constitution and creation of the Special Tribunals and the International Criminal Court for the achievement and persecution of international justice.

The Republic of Poland, due to the history of the country of overcoming genocide and establishing a democratic society, would like to honour the life, work and inspiration of one of her most distinguished citizens, and, together with the Foundation for the International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, decided to create the “Raphael Lemkin International Prize for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities”.

The Foundation for the International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities has been created with the aim of generating a global political and social consciousness for the need of establishing preventive policies against genocide and mass atrocities.

The Raphael Lemkin International Prize aims at becoming a globally recognized award honouring individuals and organizations pioneering ways as to how humanity could prevent the occurrence of genocides. The prize will pay tribute to the innovative and forward-looking approach Lemkin took at his time and make of this exemplary attitude an encouragement in others willing to contribute to the construction of a global architecture for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities.

The Raphael Lemkin International Prize will be launched in the framework of a Conference to be organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in cooperation with the Foundation for the International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and with the support of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to the UN in Geneva and the Permanent Mission of Hungary to UN in Geneva. The Conference will provide an opportunity for both reminding participants of Raphael Lemkin’s work, his thinking and the struggle he undertook to see a UN Convention drafted and signed and the developments and challenges the International Community should address with regard to prevention of genocide and mass atrocities.