Raphael Lemkin was a lawyer of Polonized-Jewish descent who is best known for coining the word genocide and initiating the Genocide Convention. Lemkin coined the word genocide in 1943 or 1944 from the rooted words genos (Greek for family, tribe, or race) and -cide (Latin for killing)

For his work on international law and the prevention of war crimes, Lemkin received a number of awards, including the Cuban Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in 1950, the Stephen Wise Award of the American Jewish Congress in 1951, and the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955.

On the 50th anniversary of the Convention entering into force, Dr. Lemkin was also honored by the UN Secretary-General as "an inspiring example of moral engagement." He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize ten times.

In 1989 he received the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Worship.

Lemkin is the subject of the plays Lemkin's House by Catherine Filloux (2005),[and If The Whole Body Dies: Raphael Lemkin and the Treaty Against Genocide by Robert Skloot (2006).

 He was also profiled in the 2014 American documentary film, Watchers of the Sky.

Every year, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights gives the Raphael Lemkin Human Rights Award to a layperson who draws on his or her Jewish values to be a human rights leader.

On 20 November 2015 Lemkin's article Soviet genocide in Ukraine was added to Russian index of "extremist publications", whose distribution in Russia is forbidden