The United Nations conference on Declarations of Death of Missing Persons, a meeting unique in the history of the world organization, ended today by unanimously adopting an international convention on the issuance of death certificates for persons missing as a result of war or persecution. The vote was 20 to 0, with Yugoslavia abstaining.
The convention is of great importance to Jews because of the disappearace and unrecorded death of millions of European Jews and the resultant confusion in family relations and inderitance.
Four of the 20 articles of the convention were authored by the delegate of Israel, Jacob Robinson. Following the vote the delegates signed a letter of transmittal to governments which will accompany the convention, but six representatives emphasized that their signatures carried no commitment in respect to accession to the covenant by their governments.
The instrument is open to accession by all U.N. member states and by all non-member states invited to ratify by the U.N. Economic and Social Council. The convention will come into force 90 days after the second ratification.
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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.
