The immediate establishment of a committee to draft an international convention against genocide — mass extermination of racial groups – was unanimously approved today by the U.N. Economic and Social Council. The British delegate was the only delegate who abstained from voting.
When the final treaty is signed by the nations of the world, each signatory will be bound to take steps against any acts threatening to assume genocidal proportions. Each of these nations would have, to answer charges and to surrender to an international tribunal any government official guilty of inciting to violence against entire communal groups.
As a result of today’s decision, the Council appointed an Ad Hoc Committee, composed of China, Franco, Lebanon, Poland, United States, U.S.S.R. and Venezuela, to prepare the draft convention on genocide for submission to the next session of the Council in July, thus paving the way for final approval by the next General Assembly in September.
The Ad Hoc Committee will consider the draft convention already prepared by the U.N. Secretary-General, as well as drafts previously submitted by member states of the United Nations.
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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.
