What is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide?
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is an international agreement adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. It is the first UN legal standard that sets out the specific definition of genocide and sets out the international criminal responsibility for its prevention and punishment. Genocide is defined as the intentional destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, national, or religious group. Examples include killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting conditions of life designed to bring about physical destruction, preventing births within the group, and forcibly transferring children from one group to another. The 1948 Convention prohibits acts of genocide and sets out the legal responsibility of states to prevent and punish genocide. It requires states to take steps to prevent and punish genocide, whether committed in their own country or against citizens of another country. California has adopted the Convention and criminalized genocide under state law. It is illegal in California to commit any act with the intent to destroy a group, in whole or in part, based on their membership in an ethnic, racial, national, or religious group. Perpetrators of genocide in California may be prosecuted in state court.
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