The Convention identifies five acts, any of which constitute genocide if “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. They are:
- Killing members of the group;
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The Convention confirms that genocide is a crime under international law which the parties to the Convention agree to prevent and to punish. The Convention lists five acts as punishable:
- Genocide;
- Conspiracy to commit genocide;
- Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
- Attempt to commit genocide; and
- Complicity in genocide.
The Convention makes it clear that any person, whether “constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals” committing genocide shall be punished. State parties to the Convention must undertake to enact the necessary legislation, in accordance with their respective constitutions, “to give effect to the provisions of the … Convention” and to “provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide” and the other four related acts listed above. Persons charged with genocide are to be tried by “a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed” or by an international tribunal whose jurisdiction has been accepted by that State.
State parties may also call upon the United Nations “to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide” or any of the other four related acts listed above. Disputes between State parties related to the interpretation or application of the Convention may be submitted to the International Court of Justice by any of the parties to the dispute.
It should be noted that the crime of genocide may be committed during time of peace or time of war.