The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide was adopted 63 years ago
armradio.am
09.12.2011 17:48
On 9 December 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951. It defines
genocide in legal terms, and is the culmination of years of
campaigning by lawyer Raphael Lemkin.
All participating countries are advised to prevent and punish actions
of genocide in war and in peacetime. The number of states that have
ratified the convention is currently 140.
The Convention, a major pillar in the evolving framework of
international humanitarian rules, declares genocide a crime under
international law. It condemns genocide, whether committed in time of
peace or in time of war, and provides a definition of this crime.
Moreover, the prescribed punishment is not subject to the limitations
of time and place.
The Convention defines genocide as any of a number of acts committed
with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic,
racial or religious group: killing members of the group; causing
serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about
its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures
intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly transferring
children of the group to another group.
The Convention also declares that there shall be no immunity. Persons
committing this crime shall be punished, whether they are
constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private
individuals.