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 that was adopted by the United Nations in 1948. It is the most comprehensive international law protecting human rights, and is one of the most widely ratified human rights treaties. The Convention establishes an international legal definition of the crime of genocide and also makes it illegal for any country to commit genocide. Under the Convention, genocide is defined as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group: killing members of the group; causing serious physical 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; or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. The Convention also outlines measures that governments should take to prevent and punish acts of genocide. These include punishing individuals convicted of genocide, submitting disputes on the interpretation of the Convention to the International Court of Justice, and establishing national courts that can try genocide cases. The Convention applies to all states that ratify it, and Washington is one of the many states that have done so. Under the Convention, Washington has an obligation to attempt to prevent and punish acts of genocide.
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