The Genocide Convention is “Our Cause” : International Women’s Advocacy for the Criminalization of Genocide, 1945–1952

In 1948, the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was official recognized under international law. Few, however, understand the role of international women’s rights organizations in the politics of the convention, the ratification process, and its application in the immediate postwar era. Rooted in their knowledge of Nazi atrocities and wartime activism, women’s organizations supported Raphael Lemkin’s campaign, but also critiqued the convention’s failure to address sexual violence and political repression of certain vulnerable groups. This article explores how women’s rights leaders supported the Genocide Convention as a crucial mechanism for preventing a repetition of atrocities, how they committed early on to applying the law to intervene and protect human rights, and how fissures later emerged between these various international women’s rights groups in the Cold War era.