The U.N. Ad Hoc Committee on Genocide today concluded its discussion on the desirability of creating an international court for the punishment of crimes of genocide. The committee agreed that the punishment of genocide should be carried out by competent tribunals in the countries where these crimes are committed or by an international court which may be established for the purpose.
The committee also agreed to the principle that jurisdiction by the proposed international court, if established, should be subject to a finding by that court to the effect that the country in which the crime was committed had failed to take adequate measures to punish the crime.
Previously, the committee declared itself against the inclusion of the principle of universal enforcement in the convention on genocide which it will draft. Under that principle the contracting parties would have bound themselves, under the convention, to punish any offender within any territory under their jurisdiction.
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