39th
session of the Human Rights Council
High-level panel
discussion to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Concept note (as of 4
September 2018)
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Date and venue:
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Thursday 13 September
2018, 10 a.m. - noon, Room XX, Palais des Nations, Geneva
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Objectives:
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The Human Rights Council will commemorate the
seventieth anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide through a high-level panel discussion, pursuant to
Council resolution 37/26.
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Chair:
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H.E. Mr.
Vojislav Šuc, President of the Human Rights
Council
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Opening
statements:
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·
Ms. Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
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H.E. Mr. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Armenia
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Panellists:
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· Mr. Adama Dieng, Under-Secretary-General
and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide,
former Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(2001-2012)
· Ms. Kimberly Prost, Judge of the
International Criminal Court, former judge of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2006-2010)
· Mr. William Schabas, Professor of
international law at Middlesex University (United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland) and Professor of international criminal law and human
rights at Leiden University (Netherlands)
· Mr. Fabian Salvioli, Special Rapporteur on the promotion
of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence
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Outcome:
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OHCHR summary report on the panel discussion
to be submitted to the Human Rights Council at its 40th session.
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Mandate:
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In its resolution 37/26, the Human Rights
Council considered that the seventieth anniversary of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on 9 December
1948 and succeeded by the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights on the next day, provides an important opportunity for Member States
and the international community to reaffirm the significance of the
Convention and to continue their efforts to prevent and punish the crime of
genocide. The Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize at the thirty-ninth session of
the Council a high-level panel discussion to commemorate the seventieth
anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime
of Genocide
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Format:
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The
duration of the panel discussion will be strictly limited to two hours. A
maximum of one hour will be set aside for the podium, including opening
statements, panellist presentations, and their responses to questions and
concluding remarks. Speaking time limits for the panellists and guests, if
any, will be calculated based on the maximum one hour limit for the podium.
States
and observers, including national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), intervening from the floor will also
have a maximum of one hour. Each speaker will have two minutes to raise
issues and to ask panellists questions. The list of speakers for the
discussion will be established at the beginning of the panel and, as per
practice, statements by high-level dignitaries and groups will be moved to
the beginning of the list.
The
practice of having two slots for Member and observer States (2x12), NHRIs
(2x1) and NGOs (2x2) will be maintained but the possibility for panellists to
intervene in-between will depend entirely on the time used at the start of
the panel.
Interpretation
will be provided in the six United Nations official languages (Arabic,
Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).
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Background:
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The General Assembly, in its resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December 1948,
approved and proposed for signature and ratification or accession the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In its Article I,
the Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of
peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they
undertake to prevent and to punish.
In the Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily
or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the
group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within
the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The year 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It offers an
important opportunity for Member States and the international community to reaffirm
the significance of the Convention and to continue their efforts to prevent
and punish the crime of genocide.
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Useful documents:
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·
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, approved by General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December
1948, and entered into force on 12 January 1951
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