Jewish Groups Urge Early U.S. Ratification of Genocide Pact

Prompted by concern over the favorable action of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the so-called Bricker amendment to limit the treaty making power of the President, thirty four national and local Jewish organizations this weekend in a joint statement, urged early United States ratification of the United Nations Genocide Convention.

The Jewish groups deplored the recent announcement by Secretary of State John Foster Dallas that the Administration would not press for ratification of the genocide convention. They called it “a tragic irony” that such a position should be taken at this time, “when so many of the captive peoples of the world are threatened by Soviet tyranny.” Failure of the United States to ratify the convention, the Jewish organizations declared, “can lead only to a cynical questioning of our support of international cooperation as an instrument of justice and morality.”

“The people of the world have long looked to the United States for action on this great humanitarian issue,” the thirty four organizations said, “the objectives of which are in keeping with the spirit of our great Bill of Rights and with the Judaeo-Christian concept of the sanctity of human life.”

The statement was signed by the American Jewish Congress. Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, United Synagogue of America, and 28 local Jewish councils. It was released by the National Community Relations Advisory Council, coordinating body for all the signatory groups.