The list of parties to the Genocide Convention encompasses the states who have signed and ratified or acceded to Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to prevent and punish actions of genocide in war and in peacetime.
On 11 December 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was opened for signature. Ethiopia became the first state to deposit the treaty on 1 July 1949. Ethiopia was also among the very few countries that incorporated the convention in its national law immediately— as early as the 1950s. The treaty came into force and closed for signature on 12 January 1951. Since then, states that did not sign the treaty can now only accede to it. The instrument of ratification, accession, or succession is deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations
As of September 2026, 154 states have ratified or acceded to the treaty, most recently Djibouti in February 2026. One state, the Dominican Republic, has signed but not ratified the treaty.
Ratified or acceded states State Signed Deposited Method Accession Accession Accession Accession Succession from Accession Accession Ratification Accession Accession Succession from Accession Accession Accession Ratification as Ratification Accession Accession Ratification Succession from Signed 11 December 1948Ratified 29 August 1950 Ratification Accession Accession Accession Accession Ratification Accession Ratification RatificationSigned as Ratification Accession Accession Accession Succession from Signed 11 December 1948Ratified 29 August 1950 Ratification Accession Succession from Signed 28 December 1949Ratified 21 December 1950 Succession as Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)from Ratification25 Feb 2026Accession Accession Ratification Ratification Ratification Accession Ratification Succession from Accession Ratification Accession Accession Accession Accession as Also Acceded 27 March 1973 Accession Ratification Ratification Accession Accession Ratification Ratification Accession Ratification Ratification Ratification Accession Accession Ratification Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Ratification Accession Ratification Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Ratification Accession Accession Accession Succession from Accession Accession Ratification Accession Accession Accession Ratification Accession Accession Accession Succession from Signed 11 December 1948Ratified 29 August 1950 Ratification Ratification Accession Ratification Accession Ratification Ratification Ratification Accession Accession Accession Ratification as Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession as Accession Accession Succession from Signed 28 December 1949Ratified 21 December 1950 Succession from Signed 11 December 1948Ratified 29 August 1950 Ratification Accession Accession Accession Accession Ratification Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Accession Ratification as Accession Accession Ratification Ratification Accession Accession Accession Accession as Also Acceded 6 April 1989 Accession Accession
Unrecognized state, ratified treaty State Signed Deposited Method On the date that the Chinese Republic ratified the treaty (July 20, 1949), it was recognized by the United States and other nations as the sole legitimate government of China, and it was a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, holding a veto power Ratification
State that has signed but not ratified State Signed
Municipal laws The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) came into effect in January 1951. Article 5, 6 and 7 of the CPPCG cover obligations that sovereign states that are parties to the convention must undertake to enact:
Since 1951 the following states have enacted provisions within their municipal law to prosecute or extradite perpetrators of genocide:
State/JurisdictionProvisionsNotesChap. 1, Crimes Against Humanity, of the Criminal CodeSee Genocide Law (Albania, 1995) Genocide Act, Laws, Vol. 4. Article 393 of the Criminal code. Division 268 of the Criminal CodeAs inserted by the International Criminal Court (Consequential Amendments) Act 2002. Paragraph 321 of the Strafgesetzbuch 1974. Austrian law classifies all acts intended to annihilate a national, ethnic or religious group partially or in its entirety, create circumstances suitable to cause such events, create sterility in the group or other measures intended to prevent wilful procreation, or forcefully abducting children of said group to integrate them into another as genocide, with a statutory sentence of life imprisonment. Conspiracy to commit such acts carries a penalty of one to ten years imprisonment. Article 103 and 104 of the Criminal Code. Decree No. 4 of 1990 (on genocide). International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973. Genocide Act, chapter 133A. Article 127 of the Criminal Code. Law on serious violations of international humanitarian law, 10 February 1999.In 1993 Belgium had adopted universal jurisdiction, allowing prosecution of genocide, committed by anybody in the world. The practice was widely applauded by many human rights groups, because it made legal action possible to perpetrators who did not have a direct link with Belgium, and whose victims were not Belgian citizens or residents. Ten years later in 2003, Belgium repealed the law on universal jurisdiction (under pressure from the United States). However, some cases which had already started continued. These included those concerning the Rwandan genocide, and complaints filed against the Chadian ex-President Hissène Habré.Belgium: Universal Jurisdiction Law Repealed web page on Human Rights Watch 1 August 2003
In a Belgium court case lodged on 18 June 2001 by 23 survivors of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, the prosecution alleged that Ariel Sharon, former Israeli defence minister (and Israel's Prime Minister in 2001–2006), as well as other Israelis committed a number of crimes including genocide, because "all the constituent elements of the crime of genocide, as defined in the 1948 Convention and as reproduced in article 6 of the ICC Statute and in article 1§1 of the law of 16 June 1993, are present". This allegation was not tested in Belgium court because on 12 February 2003 the Court of Cassation (Belgian Supreme Court) ruled that under international customary law, acting heads of state and government can not become the object of proceedings before criminal tribunals in foreign state (although for the crime of genocide they could be the subject of proceedings of an international tribunal).Chibli Mallat, Michael Verhaeghe, Luc Walleyn and Laurie King-Irani The February 2003 Decision of the Belgian Supreme Court Explained on the website of [indictsharon.net], 19 February 2003 This ruling was a reiteration of a decision made a year earlier by the International Court of Justice on 14 February 2002. Following these ruling in June 2003 the Belgian Justice Ministry decided to start a procedure to transfer the case to Israel.Luc Walleyn, Michael Verhaeghe, Chibli Mallat. Statement of the Lawyers for the Survivors of Sabra and Shatila in reaction to the Belgian Justice Ministry's decision to start the procedure of transferring the case to Israel 15 June 2003. Article 138 of the Código Penal.Article 141 of the Penal Code.List of Bosnian genocide prosecutions#The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law No. 2.889 of 1 October 1956.The Helmet Massacre of the Tikuna people took place in 1988, and was initially treated as homicide. Since 1994 it has been treated by the Brazilian courts as a genocide. Thirteen men were convicted of genocide in 2001. In November 2004 at the appeal before Brazil's federal court, the man initially found guilty of hiring men to carry out the genocide was acquitted, and the other men had their initial sentences of 15–25 years reduced to 12 years.
In a news letter published on 7 August 2006 the Indianist Missionary Council reported that: "In a plenary session, the [Brazilian] Supreme Federal Court (STF) reaffirmed that the crime known as the Haximu Massacre [perpetrated on the Yanomami Indians in 1993] was a genocide and that the decision of a federal court to sentence miners to 19 years in prison for genocide in connection with other offenses, such as smuggling and illegal mining, is valid. It was a unanimous decision made during the judgement of Extraordinary Appeal (RE) 351487 today, the 3rd, in the morning by justices of the Supreme Court". Commenting on the case the NGO Survival International said "The UN convention on genocide, ratified by Brazil, states that the killing 'with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group' is genocide. The Supreme Court's ruling is highly significant and sends an important warning to those who continue to commit crimes against indigenous peoples in Brazil." Article 416 on Genocide, of the Criminal Code. Article 313 of the Code Pénal. In 2003 the transitional parliament in Burundi passed a law, introduced to parliament by the Burundian Foreign Minister Therence Sinunguruzaa, chiefly aimed at preventing genocide. Law for prosecuting crimes committed from 1975 to 1979. Act on genocide and war crimes, Article 318 on Advocating Genocide.In Canada the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act makes it an offence under Canadian law to commit genocide, whether inside or outside Canada. A person may be charged under this law if, at the time of the crime, the perpetrator was a Canadian citizen or was employed by Canada, if the victim was a Canadian citizen or a citizen of a country allied to Canada, if the perpetrator was a citizen of, or employed by, a country that Canada was engaged in armed conflict with or if, at any time after committing the crime, the perpetrator enters Canadian territory. Articles 101 & 102 of the Código Penal. Article 127 of the Código Penal (14 April 1998).The law includes political groups or social groups as a protected group.Naomi Klein. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Macmillan, 2007 , . p. 101, see footnote Article 137 of the Code Pénal. Article 156 of the Penal Code. Article 361 of the Código Penal. Uw 59/ 1980. Article 400 of the Penal Code. Law Nr. 132 of 29 April 1955. Article 361 of the Código Penal. Article 91 of the Karistusseadustik eriosa. Article 281 of the Penal Code of 1957. Chapter 3, Part 12, Division 2 of the Crimes Act 2009. Criminal CodeGenocide has been criminalized as a separate crime in Finland since 1995 and carries a penalty from 4 years to life sentence. In addition to actual killing, the description of the crime (joukkotuhonta) covers also cultural assimilation by means of separating children from their original national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Attempted genocide or planning it are punishable. Genocide, as a number of other crimes of international nature is inside Finnish universal jurisdiction, but under Chapter 1, Section 12 of the Criminal Code, incidents of it abroad may not be investigated unless the Prosecutor General gives an order to do this.
In 2010 a Rwandan refugee, François Bazaramba was convicted to life in prison for participation in the Rwandan genocide. Article 211-1 of the Code Pénal.The French law defines "a group determined by any arbitrary criteria" which is far broader than that found in the CPPCG. Article 651 (genocide) of the penal code Article 220a of the Strafgesetzbuch (1954), superseded by article 6 of the Völkerstrafgesetzbuch (2002).Prior to the 2007 ICJ ruling on the Bosnian Genocide Case German courts handed down several convictions for genocide during the Bosnian War.