Support for a proposed United Nations international Convention that would bar statutes of limitations on war crimes and crimes against humanity was expressed by the B’nai B’rith International Council at its executive committee session here today.
The proposed Convention favored by the Council would also bind signatory nations to assist each other in the prosecution of war crimes through extraditions and the “unconditional submission” of evidence to participating countries having jurisdiction in a war crimes case.
Maurice Weinstein, of Charlotte, N.C., chairman of the International Council, reported here that a memorandum detailing the proposed Convention had been submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Commission by the Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations. CBJO, comprising B’nai B’rith and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, has non-governmental consultative status before the Human Rights Commission, which is scheduled to convene its session here tomorrow.
Another CBJO memorandum recommended to the Commission that anti-Semitism be “singled out for specific condemnation” in a draft Convention on “The Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance” on the Commission’s agenda. The second CBJO statement noted the existence of “some 450” anti-Jewish organizations, 50 “extremist” periodicals with a circulation of more than 1, 000, 000 and the “persistent” use of anti-Semitism for “the disruption of peace and for open aggression” among the reasons for specific mention of anti-Semitism as a form of religious intolerance.
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