Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 9, 1948.
- Article
I.
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide,
whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international
law which they undertake to prevent and punish.
- Article
II.
In the present Convention, genocide means
any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: a) Killing
members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members
of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e) Forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.
- Article
III.
The following acts shall be punished: a)
Genocide; b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; c) Direct and public incitement
to commit genocide; d) Attempt to commit genocide; e) Complicity in genocide.
- Article
IV.
Persons committing genocide or any of the
other acts enumerated in Article III shall be punished, whether they are
constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
- Article
V.
The Contracting Parties undertake to enact,
in accordance with their respective Constitutions, the necessary legislation
to give affect to the provision of the present Convention and, in particular,
to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide or of any
of the other acts enumerated in Article III.
- Article
VI.
Persons charged with genocide or any of
the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be tried by a competent tribunal
of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by such
international penal tribunal as may have jurisdiction with respect to those
Contracting Parties which shall have accepted its jurisdiction.
- Article
VII.
Genocide and the other acts enumerated
in Article III shall not be considered as political crimes for the purpose
of extradition. The Contracting Parties pledge themselves in such cases
to grant extradition in accordance with their laws and treaties in force.
- Article
VIII.
Any Contracting Party may call upon the
competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter
of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and
suppression of acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article
III.
- Article
IX.
Disputes between the Contracting Parties
relating to the interpretation, application or fulfillment of the present
Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for
genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in Article III, shall be
submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of
the parties to the dispute.
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