About us
The Raphael Lemkin Society is a non-governmental organization that brings together lawyers, researchers, cultural leaders, and human rights advocates to work toward preventing and punishing the crime of genocide.
Our work is grounded in the ideas of Raphael Lemkin, the lawyer whose work laid the foundations of modern international human rights law. He coined the term “genocide” and was one of the authors of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Mission
Our mission is to unite around Raphael Lemkin’s ideas to prevent the crime of genocide and ensure its punishment, with Ukraine as the precedent.
Core Activities
- Advocacy and communication — promoting a systemic approach to addressing crimes against culture as part of genocidal practices, advancing legal reforms at the national and international levels, commemorating, and promoting Raphael Lemkin’s scholarly legacy.
- Representing those affected — supporting individuals and institutions impacted by Russian military aggression through legal assistance in criminal proceedings at the national and international levels, professional and communication support, and by facilitating cooperation and interaction between institutions.
- Community building — fostering an interdisciplinary environment and strengthening cooperation with academic institutions in Ukraine and abroad, engaging with international partners, representatives of human rights and cultural heritage organizations, as well as donor institutions.
- Research and analysis — examining incidents of attacks on cultural heritage sites, cases of looting and assaults on individuals, developing and publishing methodologies for the criminal-law qualification of crimes against cultural property, cultural figures, and the displacement of museum collections, as well as preparing analytical reports and studies for open access.