convention on the
prevention and punishment
of the crime of genocide
abbreviated for educational purposes only
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On the 9th of December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide "in order to liberate mankind from such an odious scourge"

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Article 1
Those countries who sign the convention "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: (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 3
"The following acts shall be punishable: (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 4
"constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals" shall be punished for committing genocide or any act listed in Article 3.


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This is an abbreviated and shortened version ​of The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, presented here for educational purposes only. Read the full text and all 19 Articles of the Convention on the website of the United Nations at this link.


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