Genocide represents the extermination of certain groups of the population for racial, national, religious reasons. Genocide is usually associated with fascism and racism. At the same time, this concept cannot be considered simple and obvious. Many tragic events of history, both ancient and modern, allow saying that this anti-cultural phenomenon is much more widespread than it is commonly believed. The term "genocide" was first coined by US lawyer R. Lemkin. He investigated the phenomenon of German fascism. Legal consolidation of such crimes was carried out in the international Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed in Paris in 1948. All countries included in the UN approved it in their governments. In accordance with this document, genocide is understood as the following: group murder; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group; conscious deterioration of the living conditions of the group, which entail its complete or partial physical destruction; preventing childbirth among group members; forcibly transferring children from one group of people to another. The crimes of genocide are considered by the world legal practice to be any actions directed not against individuals who have violated the law, but against any of their commonality when these actions cause serious harm to people from this group in relation to health, life, and procreation. Thus, many events in world history can be attributed to the crimes of genocide.
