The British Government has decided to accede to the United Nations Convention on Genocide, Minister of State George Thomson told the House of Commons here today. He made that statement in reply to a question by Sir Barnett Janner, prominent Jewish Labor Party Member of Parliament.
Sir Barnett said that the decision by the Government would be of considerable interest to the entire civilized world and to the Jewish community in particular. In announcing the decision, Mr. Thomson said that the Government was satisfied that the traditional right of asylum for the genuine political fugitive, concern for which had prevented British accession to the convention, would not be prejudiced.
(At the United Nations, it was pointed out today that, since the adoption of the Convention on Genocide, on December 9, 1948, 67 member states had ratified or acceded to the document, as of the end of last March. However, the United States Government has not yet ratified the convention. Action on such ratification has been bottled up in the U. S. Senate in spite of many requests that it be ratified. The latest official request was voiced by the late President Kennedy in the summer of 1963.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
