Genocide Denial

The act of publicly denying, grossly minimizing or approving of a recognized genocide, most often the Holocaust or the 1994 Rwandan genocide, criminalized as a distinct offense in a number of countries, including Germany and France, typically as part of a broader hate speech or incitement framework rather than as a wholly free-standing crime everywhere it exists. The European Union's 2008 Council Framework Decision on combating racism and xenophobia called on member states to criminalize the public condoning, denial or gross trivialization of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and a number of countries, including France with its 1990 Gayssot Act, initially targeted Holocaust denial specifically before some later extended similar provisions to cover denial of other recognized genocides, including the Armenian genocide and the Rwandan genocide; the United States, again constrained by First Amendment protections for speech, does not criminalize genocide denial as such.