A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

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Appendix B
Convention defines genocide as “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.” 70
Liberia ratified the Genocide Conventions on June 9, 1950.
Tribunals have been established to prosecute various large-scale human rights abuses that constitute
grave violations of the laws and customs of war, genocide, and crimes against humanity. 71 In
Africa, for example, an International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was created by the U.N. Security
Council. 72 Additionally, on July 17, 1998, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
was adopted by the U.N. Conference of Plenipotentiaries. 73 The ICC is competent to try national
persons irrespective of their official capacity, but will not have jurisdiction over legal entities, such as
states and corporations. 74 The ICC Statute went into effect on July 1, 2002. 75
ii. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 21, 1965, and entered into
force on January 4, 1969. 76 As of June 11, 2009, 173 states were parties to it. 77 The term racial
discrimination means “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour,
descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the
recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms
in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.” 78 The States Parties to
the Convention “condemn racial discrimination and undertake to pursue by all appropriate means
and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and promoting
understanding among all races.” 79 They agree not to practice racial discrimination and to prohibit
public institutions from practicing the same, not to support racial discrimination by any persons
or organizations, to take effective public policy measures to eliminate racial discrimination, and to
encourage multiracial organizations and movements permitting integration. 80 They also agree to
assure that adequate remedies exist in their jurisdictions for acts violating the Convention. 81 The
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is tasked with monitoring and implementing
the Convention. 82 Liberia acceded to CERD on November 5, 1976.