Gaza Genocide

On 9 February 2022, the government was asked in the Rajya Sabha the following question: “Will the Minister of Home Affairs be pleased to state whether it is a fact that India ratified the Genocide Convention (1948) passed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA); (b) if so, whether Government have enacted any laws regarding Genocide.”

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The Modi government answered: “India signed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948 on 29th November, 1949 and ratified the Convention on 27th August, 1959 and thereby recognized genocide as an international crime. The principles embodied in the Convention are part of general international law and therefore already part of common law of India. The provisions of Indian Penal Code including the procedural law (Criminal Procedure Code) provide effective penalties for persons guilty of such category of crime and take cognizance of the acts which may otherwise be taken to be in the nature of genocide, as culpable offences.”

Genocide is a crime under international law, whether committed in times of peace or armed conflict. It is prohibited and criminalised under the Genocide Convention, which Israel ratified in 1950, and the Rome Statute. Five specific acts constitute genocide: 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. However, to constitute the crime of genocide, these acts must also be committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” This specific intent is what distinguishes genocide from other crimes under international law.