Attention Suu Kyi: here’s what the UN Convention says about genocide

This highly informative article reports on tragic realities which are,  unimaginably, happening during the current  century.
However, a report of what the Rohingya people are now enduring cannot be complete without mentioning the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948 and entered into force three years later.
This multilateral legal instrument has been ratified by 149 countries, including Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Article 2 of the Convention contains a definition of genocide – which covers acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. It specifically refers to acts deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about a group’s physical destruction in whole or in part.
The Convention stipulates without ambiguity that persons committing genocide shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
The reason is that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law and must be prevented and punished.
Ioan Voicu