A proposal aimed partly at the United States, recommending that the United Nations call on all governments that had not yet acceded to the U.N. Convention Against Genocide do so by 1968, was made here today to the Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
The anti-genocide convention, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, has to date been ratified by 68 governments, including all members of the Soviet bloc, while Britain announced recently it is ready to ratify the pact. The U.S.A., however, has never acceded to the instrument which terms genocide a crime, making it punishable.
Today’s proposal was made before the 14-member subcommission, a subsidiary body of the U.N. Commission of Human Rights, by the Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations, comprised of B’nai B’rith and the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Dr. William Korey, representative of the CBJO, which has a voice but not a vote in the subcommission, expressed “regret” that “some” governments had not yet ratified the Convention Against Genocide. He did not identify the U.S.A. by name, but requested that the 20th anniversary of the Conventions adoption be made the goal for more universal acceptance of its principles.
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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.
