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05Apr71

The Genocide Act of Belize

BELIZE
GENOCIDE ACT
CHAPTER 110

REVISED EDITION 2000
SHOWING THE LAW AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2000

This is a revised edition of the law, prepared by the Law Revision Commissioner under the authority of the Law Revision Act, Chapter 3 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 1980 - 1990.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
  1. Short title.
  2. Genocide.
  3. Application of Extradition Act.
  4. No objection to proceedings.

CHAPTER 110
GENOCIDE

[5th April 1971]

1. This Act may be cited as the Genocide Act.

2.-(1) A person commits an offence of genocide if he commits any act falling within the definition of "genocide" in Article II of the Genocide Convention as set out in the Schedule.
(2) Any person who attempts, conspires or incites any person to commit the offence of genocide is guilty of an offence and is liable to punishment as provided in subsection (3) (b).
(3) A person found guilty of an offence of genocide shall on conviction on indictment-

    (a) if the offence consists of the killing of any person, be liable to be sentenced to death;
    (b) in any other case, be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years.
(4) The offence of genocide shall be triable solely on indictment.

3.-(1) The Extradition Act shall apply to this Act.
(2) For the purposes of the Extradition Act, no offence which, if committed in Belize, would be punishable as an offence of genocide or as an attempt, conspiracy or incitement to commit such an offence shall be regarded as an offence of a political character and no proceedings in respect of such an offence shall be regarded as a criminal matter of a political character.

4. It shall not be an objection to any proceedings taken against a person by virtue of sections 2 and 3 that under any law in force at the time when and in the place where he is alleged to have committed the act of which he is accused or of which he is convicted he could not have been punished therefor.

SCHEDULE
[Section 2]

ARTICLE II OF GENOCIDE CONVENTION

In the present 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) deliberatly 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.
[Source: The Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, Ministry of the Attorney General.]

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This document has been published on 28Oct15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.