The UN defines genocide 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: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group''
Explanation:
The UN describes Genocide as one of the worst crimes against humanity, often quoting it as 'crimes of all crimes'. For an act to be defined as Genocide it needs to be committed by a group of people on to another defined group of people, simply because of their 'otherness'
Anyone who takes part in a genocide including planning, funding, ordering, supporting, promoting or anyone who directly or indirectly helps to commit a genocide, is responsible for it under international law.
One of the most infamous examples of Genocide is that of the Holocaust that was committed by Nazi Germany against European Jews. A more modern example is that of the Rwanda Genocide.
