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Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide
Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9
December 1948.
Article 1
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 to punish.
Article 2
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:
Article 3
The following acts shall be punishable:
Article 4
Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3
shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public
officials or private individuals.
Article 5
The Contracting Parties undertake to enact, in accordance with their
respective Constitutions, the necessary legislation to give effect to the
provisions of the present Convention and, in particular, to provide effective
penalties for persons guilty of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in
Article 3.
Article 6
Persons charged with genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article
3 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 7
Genocide and the other acts enumerated in Article 3 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 8
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 3.
Article 9
Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation,
application or fulfilment of the present Convention, including those relating to
the responsibility of a State for genocide or any of the other acts enumerated
in Article 3, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the
request of any of the parties to the dispute.
Article 10
The present Convention, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and
Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall bear the date of 9 December 1948.
Article 11
The present Convention shall be open until 31 December 1949 for signature on
behalf of any Member of the United Nations and of any non-member State to which
an invitation to sign has been addressed by the General Assembly.
The present Convention shall be ratified, and the instruments of ratification
shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
After 1 January 1950, the present Convention may be acceded to on behalf of
any Member of the United Nations and of any non-member State which has received
an invitation as aforesaid.
Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the
United Nations.
Article 12
Any Contracting Party may at any time, by notification addressed to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, extend the application of the present
Convention to all or any of the territories for the conduct of whose foreign
relations that Contracting Party is responsible.
Article 13
On the day when the first twenty instruments of ratification or accession
have been deposited, the Secretary-General shall draw up a proces-verbal and
transmit a copy of it to each Member of the United Nations and to each of the
non-member States contemplated in Article 11.
The present Convention shall come into force on the ninetieth day following
the date of deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession.
Any ratification or accession effected subsequent to the latter date shall
become effective on the ninetieth day following the deposit of the instrument of
ratification or accession.
Article 14
The present Convention shall remain in effect for a period of ten years as
from the date of its coming into force.
It shall thereafter remain in force for successive periods of five years for
such Contracting Parties as have not denounced it at least six months before the
expiration of the current period.
Denunciation shall be effected by a written notification addressed to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Article 15
If, as a result of denunciations, the number of Parties to the present
Convention should become less than sixteen, the Convention shall cease to be in
force as from the date on which the last of these denunciations shall become
effective.
Article 16
A request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any time
by any Contracting Party by means of a notification in writing addressed to the
Secretary-General.
The General Assembly shall decide upon the steps, if any, to be taken in
respect of such request.
Article 17
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall notify all Members of the
United Nations and the non-member States contemplated in Article 11 of the
following:
Article 18
The original of the present Convention shall be deposited in the archives of
the United Nations.
A certified copy of the Convention shall be transmitted to all Members of the
United Nations and to the non-member States contemplated in Article 11.
Article 19
The present Convention shall be registered by the Secretary-General of the
United Nations on the date of its coming into force.
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