Bi-partisan support for American ratification of the International Genocide Convention has been “frustrated” by the “absence of White House leadership” in pressing for Senate consideration of the treaty, the American Jewish Congress charged today at a meeting of its National Governing Council. The meeting was attended by more than 70 members of the Council, which is the organization’s policy making body.
The Genocide Convention establishes as an international crime the mass murder of racial, religious and ethnic groups as such. The text of the Convention was unanimously passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948, with United States spokesmen taking the lead in promoting its initial drafting and formulation. Thus far, some 64 countries around the world have ratified the treaty.
In June 1949, President Truman submitted the Genocide Convention to the Senate, accompanied by an enthusiastic endorsement. A special Genocide Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted public hearings and recommended ratification of the Convention in 1950. Since that time, however, no further action has been taken and the Convention has remained within the jurisdiction of the Foreign Relations Committee. The Committee has authority to report the Convention to the floor of the Senate for action at any time.
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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.
