1. Council: The Human Rights Council Date: March 24th, 2011
HRC/Res/A/1
Topic: Questioning Genocide Through
Historical Cases
Sponsors: The Russian Federation, The United
States of America, The People’s Republic
of China, The Republic of Cuba, The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, The republic of Angola, The United
Mexican states, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Co-Sponsors: The Republic of Uganda, The Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan, The Federal Republic of
Nigeria and The Republic of Korea
1 Reaffirming the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
2 acknowledging the inherent rights of every individual,
3
4 Emphasizing the implications of the International Bill of Rights outlining the
5 fundamental rights of each human being,
6
7 Respecting the principles outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and
8 Political Rights with emphasis on Article 6(1) stating that “Every human being has
9 the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be
10 arbitrarily deprived of his life”,
11
12 Stressing the vital role of international, regional and domestic institutions in
13 upholding Human Rights and the dignity of every person,
14
15 Recalling the necessity of holding those in violation of Human Rights accountable
16 and the implementation of just punishment accordingly,
17
18 Endorsing the strict implementation of the Convention on the Prevention and
19 Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and affirming the obligation of participating
20 countries to prevent and punish such crimes,
21
22 Noting with approval the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction outlined in
23 Article 5 as such:
24 1. The jurisdiction of the Court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of
25 concern to the international community as a whole. The Court has jurisdiction
26 in accordance with this Statute with respect to the following crimes:
27 a. The crime of genocide;
28 b. Crimes against humanity;
29 c. War crimes;

2. 30 d. The crime of aggression,
31
32 Referring to the specified parameters of “crimes against humanity” instated by the
33 International Criminal Court in Article 7 which reads:
34 1. For the purpose of this Statute, “crime against humanity” means any of the
35 following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack
36 directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
37 a. Murder;
38 b. Extermination;
39 c. Enslavement;
40 d. Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
41 e. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in
42 violation of fundamental rules of international law;
43 f. Torture;
44 g. Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy,
45 enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of
46 comparable gravity;
47 h. Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on
48 political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender or other
49 grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under
50 international law, in connection with any act referred to in this
51 paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
52 i. Enforced disappearance of persons;
53 j. The crime of apartheid;
54 k. Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing
55 great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical
56 health,
57
58 Citing the International Criminal Court’s specified jurisdiction in the event of war
59 crimes taking place and noting the present classification of actions deemed as “war
60 crimes” outlined in Article 8, which states:
61
62 1. The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular
63 when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale
64 commission of such crimes.
65 2. For the purpose of this Statute, “war crimes” means:
66 a. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949,
67 namely, any of the following acts against persons or property
68 protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:
69 i. Willful killing;
70 ii. Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological
71 experiments;
72 iii. Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or
73 health;
74 iv. Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not
75 justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and

3. 76 wantonly;
77 v. Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to
78 serve in the forces of a hostile Power;
79 vi. Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected
80 person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
81 vii. Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;
82 viii. Taking of hostages,
83 Confirming the definition of the term genocide as mentioned in the Convention on
84 the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. "Genocide" denotes any of
85 the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
86 ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
87 a. Killing members of the group;
88 b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
89 c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
90 bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
91 d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
92 e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group,
93 Clarifying that the group victimized in the years between 1975- 1979 consisted of
94 Buddhist Monks, Muslim Cham, Chinese and Vietnamese nationals as well as
95 students, intellectuals, teachers, engineers, medical doctors, literary scholars, people
96 with any connection to the old regime, persons with connection to foreign agencies
97 and are therefore not of specifically racial, ethnic, national or religious nature as
98 such,
99
100 The Human Rights Council hereby:
101
102 1- Recognizes the atrocities that occurred in Cambodia under the Pol Pot
103 regime as blatant violations of International Human Rights law;
104
105 2- Believes that cooperation between countries is paramount to address and
106 condemn the horrendous actions undertaken by the Khmer Rouge;
107
108 3- Alarms states of the misuse and/or abuse of the term “genocide” in order to
109 conserve the integrity of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
110 of the Crime of Genocide;
111
112
113 4- Reiterates that it is of utmost importance to evaluate current case at hand as
114 a crime against humanity in order to ensure accountability of the parties
115 responsible for the said atrocities;
116
117 5- Seeks the holding of any state liable if it fails to prevent such crimes against
118 humanity from happening;

4. 119
120
121 6- Reaffirms the principle of individual criminal responsibility stating that it is
122 necessary to prosecute the individuals who misuse their posts as state
123 agents;
124
125 7- Welcomes the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal putting the perpetrators
126 of said crime on trial and holding them accountable accordingly;
127
128
129 8- Demands the swift implementation of the convention on genocide excluding
130 political, cultural and social groups as such ;
131
132 9- Calls upon all delegations present to incorporate measures in their domestic
133 laws that are in compliance with minimum international standards for the
134 prevention and punishment of international crimes;
135
136 10- Suggests that the court should prosecute and try individuals for war crimes
137 and crimes against humanity and could be authorized to impose prison
138 sentence.