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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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