Introduction

World War II's Holocaust brought a new language into the world, including the word genocide. In response to the horrors of that event and other crimes committed in Europe and Asia, the international community conducted trials to prosecute and punish crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. These terms garnered better understanding as a result, although war crimes trials had precedents from earlier conflicts. After the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, the first half of the twentieth century ended with states adopting an international treaty, the Convention for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which outlawed efforts to destroy a people. Subsequent agreements have further identified and defined war crimes and crimes against humanity. -- Encyclopedia of Genocide