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Special Adviser on The Prevention of Genocide  Documents,
Publications and Statements   Message of Mr. Francis Deng,
Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on the
Prevention of Genocide on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, 9 December 2008.  Preventing genocide, sixty years
later  On 9 December 1948 the United Nations adopted the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide. The term ‘genocide’ was first coined by Rafael Lemkin.
It is derived from the Greek word genos, roughly meaning family
origin, ancestry, but also species, tribe or race, and the
Latin-derived suffix cide – to kill. Lemkin’s vision was to
capture in one word this type of murder, and have it recognized
as an international crime. In his days massacres were still
viewed as actions of a sovereign state, not to be interfered
with by international law. The Convention was largel