Crimes against humanity
Template:Criminology and penology Template:Use dmy dates Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians.<ref name=Mettraux>Template:Cite book</ref> Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as foreign nationals.<ref name=Mettraux/><ref name=DeGuzman>Margaret M. DeGuzman,"Crimes Against Humanity" Research Handbook on International Criminal Law, Bartram S. Brown, ed., Edgar Elgar Publishing, 2011.</ref> Together with war crimes, genocide, and the crime of aggression, crimes against humanity are one of the core crimes of international criminal law<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and, like other crimes against international law, have no temporal or jurisdictional limitations on prosecution (where universal jurisdiction is recognized).<ref name=DeGuzman/>
The first prosecution for crimes against humanity took place during the Nuremberg trials against defeated leaders of Nazi Germany. Crimes against humanity have been prosecuted by other international courts (such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the International Criminal Court) as well as by domestic courts. The law of crimes against humanity has primarily been developed as a result of the evolution of customary international law. Crimes against humanity are not codified in an international convention, so an international effort to establish such a treaty, led by the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, has been underway since 2008.
According to the Rome Statute, there are eleven types of crimes that can be charged as a crime against humanity when "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population": "murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation or forcible transfer of population; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; torture; rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity...; enforced disappearance...; the crime of apartheid; other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health."<ref name=un>Template:Cite web</ref>
Origins of the term
[edit]The term "crimes against humanity" is potentially ambiguous because of the ambiguity of the word "humanity", which originally meant the quality of being human (first recorded in 1384) but more recently (in 1450) additionally took on another meaning as a synonym of mankind.<ref name="OED humanity">Template:Citation</ref> The context of the term in documents related to the Nuremberg trials shows that the original sense is intended.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The term "crimes against humanity" was used by George Washington Williams,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> an American minister, politician and historian, in a letter he wrote to the United States Secretary of State describing the atrocities committed by Leopold II of Belgium's administration in the Congo Free State in 1890.<ref>Hochschild, A. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Houghton Mifflin, 1999. pp. 111–112.</ref> This was an early but not, as is often claimed, the first use of the term in its modern sense in the English language. In his first annual message in December 1889, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison spoke about the slave trade in Africa as a "crime against humanity". Already in 1883, Williams had used the same term in his reflections about slavery in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In treaty law, the term originated in the Second Hague Convention of 1899 preamble and was expanded in the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907 preamble and their respective regulations, which were concerned with the codification of new rules of international humanitarian law. The preamble of the two Conventions referenced the "laws of humanity" as an expression of underlying inarticulated humanistic values.<ref>Cherif Bassiouni, M. Crimes against Humanity: Historical Evolution and Contemporary Application. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. p. 86</ref> The term is part of what is known as the Martens Clause.
On May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers, Britain, France, and Russia, jointly issued a statement explicitly and for the first time ever charging another government with committing "a crime against humanity". An excerpt from this joint statement reads:
At the conclusion of the war, the Allied Commission of Responsibilities recommended the creation of a tribunal to try "violations of the laws of humanity" because the law of war did not cover atrocities committed by a state against its own nationals or allied persons.<ref name="JFS">Template:Cite web</ref> However, the US representative objected to references to the "law of humanity" as being imprecise and insufficiently developed at that time, and the concept was not pursued.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Nonetheless, a UN report in 1948 referred to the usage of the term "crimes against humanity" regarding the Armenian genocide as a precedent to the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials. On May 15, 1948, the Economic and Social Council presented a 384-page report prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC),<ref name="W.19">Template:Cite web</ref> set up in London (October 1943) to collect and collate information on war crimes and war criminals.<ref name="Avedian2018" /> Template:Rp The report was in compliance with the request by the UN Secretary-General to make arrangements for "the collection and publication of information concerning human rights arising from trials of war criminals, quislings, and traitors, and in particular from the Nuremberg trials and Tokyo Trials." The report had been prepared by members of the Legal Staff of the commission. The report is highly topical regarding the Armenian Genocide, not only because it uses the 1915 events as a historic example but also as a precedent to Articles 6 (c) and 5 (c) of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Charters, and thereby as a precursor to the then newly adopted UN Genocide Convention, differentiating between war crimes and crimes against humanity. By referring to the information collected during WWI and put forward by the 1919 Commission of Responsibilities, the report titled "Information Concerning Human Rights Arising from Trials of War Criminals" used the Armenian case as a vivid example of crimes committed by a state against its own citizens. The report also noted that while the Paris Peace Treaties with Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria did not include any reference to "laws of humanity", instead basing the charges on violations of "laws and customs of war", the Sèvres Peace Treaty with Turkey did so. In addition to the Articles 226–228, concerning customs of war (corresponding to Articles 228–230 of the Treaty of Versailles), the Sèvres Treaty also contained an additional Article 230, in compliance with the Allied ultimatum of May 24, 1915 regarding "crimes against humanity and civilization".<ref name="Avedian2018">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Nuremberg trials
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After the Second World War, the Nuremberg Charter set down the laws and procedures by which the Nuremberg trials were to be conducted. The drafters of this document were faced with the problem of how to charge the men at the Nuremberg Trial with committing the Holocaust and other state-sanctioned atrocities committed in Germany and German-allied states by the Nazi regime. As far as German law was concerned the men had committed no crime, but only followed orders. Not following orders however, in Nazi Germany, was a horribly punished crime. The problem in trying the individuals responsible for the German atrocities lay in the fact that, like in World War I, a traditional understanding of war crimes gave no provision for atrocities committed by a state on its own citizens or its allies.<ref name="JFS"/> Therefore, to solve this problem and close the loophole, Article 6 of the Charter was drafted to include not only traditional war crimes and crimes against peace, but also crimes against humanity, defined as: Template:Blockquote
Under this definition, crimes against humanity could be punished only insofar as they could be connected somehow to war crimes or crimes against peace.<ref name=Hilberg1145/> The jurisdictional limitation was explained by the American chief representative to the London Conference, Robert H. Jackson, who pointed out that it "has been a general principle from time immemorial that the internal affairs of another government are not ordinarily our business". Thus, "it is justifiable that we interfere or attempt to bring retribution to individuals or to states only because the concentration camps and the deportations were in pursuance of a common plan or enterprise of making an unjust war".<ref name=Hilberg1145>Template:Cite book</ref> The judgement of the first Nuremberg trial found that "the policy of persecution, repression and murder of civilians" and persecution of Jews within Germany before the outbreak of war in 1939 were not crimes against humanity, because as "revolting and horrible as many of these crimes were, it has not been satisfactorily proved that they were done in execution of, or in connection with", war crimes or crimes against peace.<ref>"Judgement : The Law Relating to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity" contained in the Avalon Project archive at Yale Law School.</ref> The subsequent Nuremberg trials were conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 which included a revised definition of crimes against humanity with a wider scope.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Tokyo trial
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The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo trial, was convened to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" (crimes against peace), "Class B" (war crimes), and "Class C" (crimes against humanity), committed during the Second World War.
The legal basis for the trial was established by the Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (CIMTFE) that was proclaimed on 19 January 1946. The tribunal convened on May 3, 1946, and was adjourned on November 12, 1948.
In the Tokyo Trial, Crimes against Humanity (Class C) was not applied for any suspect.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Additional citation needed Prosecutions related to the Nanking Massacre were categorised as infringements upon the Laws of War.Template:SfnTemplate:Additional citation needed
A panel of eleven judges presided over the IMTFE, one each from victorious Allied powers (United States, Republic of China, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Provisional Government of the French Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, British India, and the Philippines).
Types of crimes against humanity
[edit]The definition of a crime against humanity varies both between and within countries and it also varies on both the international and domestic levels. Isolated and inhumane acts of a certain nature which are not committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack may constitute grave infringements of human rights, or – depending on the circumstances – war crimes but they are not classified as crimes against humanity.<ref name="Horton2">As quoted by Guy Horton in Dying Alive – A Legal Assessment of Human Rights Violations in Burma April 2005, co-Funded by The Netherlands Ministry for Development Co-Operation. See section "12.52 Crimes against humanity", p. 201. He references RSICC/C, Vol. 1 p. 360</ref>
According to the Rome Statute, there are eleven types of crimes that can be charged as crimes against humanity when they are "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population":<ref name=un/><ref>Rome Statute article 7</ref> Template:Ordered list
Apartheid
[edit]The systematic persecution of members of one racial group by members of another racial group, such as the persecution which was practiced by the South African apartheid government, was recognized as a crime against humanity by the United Nations General Assembly in 1976.<ref>International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid Template:Webarchive adopted and opened for signature, ratification by General Assembly resolution 3068 (XXVIII) of 30 November 1973. It entered into force 18 July 1976, in accordance with article X (10)</ref> The Charter of the United Nations, Articles 13, 14, 15 makes actions of the General Assembly advisory to the Security Council.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In regard to apartheid in particular, the UN General Assembly has not made any findings, nor have apartheid-related trials for crimes against humanity been conducted. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Rape and sexual violence
[edit]The Nuremberg and Tokyo Charters did not contain any explicit provisions which recognized sexual and gender-based crimes as war crimes or crimes against humanity, but Control Council Law No. 10 recognized rape as a crime against humanity. The statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda both included rape as a crime against humanity. The ICC is the first international court which expressly includes various forms of sexual and gender-based crimesTemplate:Sndincluding rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, and other forms of sexual violenceTemplate:Sndas both an underlying act of crimes against humanity and a war crime which is committed during international and/or non-international armed conflicts.<ref>"ICC Prosecutor's Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes" June 2014</ref>
In 2008, the U.N. Security Council adopted resolution 1820, which noted that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide".<ref name="Un.org">Template:Cite web</ref>
Legal status of crimes against humanity in international law
[edit]Unlike genocide and war crimes, which have been widely recognized and prohibited in international criminal law since the establishment of the Nuremberg principles,<ref>"Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.</ref><ref>"The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols" International Committee of the Red Cross</ref> there has never been a comprehensive convention on crimes against humanity,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> even though such crimes are continuously perpetrated worldwide in numerous conflicts and crises.<ref>"Explained: Election Pledge on New Crimes Against Humanity Initiative" Template:Webarchive AEGIS</ref><ref>"International Prosecutors Call for Convention on Crimes Against Humanity" The Jurist</ref><ref>Richard, Goldstone (2011). "Foreword".</ref> There are eleven international texts defining crimes against humanity, but they all differ slightly as to their definition of that crime and its legal elements.<ref name="Crimes Against Humanity">M. Cherif Bassiouni,"Crimes Against Humanity" Template:Webarchive The Crimes of War Project</ref> In 2008, the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative was launched to address this gap in international law.<ref>Evans, Gareth, "Crimes Against Humanity and the Responsibility to Protect" Template:Webarchive International Crisis Group</ref>
On July 30, 2013, the United Nations International Law Commission voted to include the topic of crimes against humanity in its long-term program of work. In July 2014, the Commission moved this topic to its active programme of work<ref>Cecilia Marcela Bailliet, "UN International Law Commission to Elaborate New Global Convention on Crimes Against Humanity" IntLawGrrls</ref><ref>William A. Schabas, "International Law Commission to Work on Draft Articles on Crimes Against Humanity" PhD studies in human rights</ref> based largely on a report submitted by Sean D. Murphy (the Special Rapporteur for Crimes Against Humanity).<ref>Murphy, Sean (February 2013). "Proposal for New Topic: Crimes Against Humanity, Working Group on the Long-Term Program of Work". International Law Commission, Sixty-fifth session. p. 2</ref>
There is some debate on the status of crimes against humanity under customary international law is. M. Cherif Bassiouni argues that crimes against humanity are part of jus cogens and as such constitute a non-derogable rule of international law.<ref name="Crimes Against Humanity"/>
United Nations
[edit]The United Nations has been primarily responsible for the prosecution of crimes against humanity since it was chartered in 1948.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After Nuremberg, there was no international court with jurisdiction over crimes against humanity for almost 50 years. However, work continued on developing the definition of crimes against humanity at the United Nations. For instance, in 1947, the International Law Commission was charged by the United Nations General Assembly with the formulation of the principles of international law recognized and reinforced in the Nuremberg Charter and judgment, and they were also tasked with drafting a 'code of offenses against the peace and security of mankind'. Completed 50 years later in 1996, the Draft Code defined crimes against humanity as various inhumane acts, i.e., "murder, extermination, torture, enslavement, persecution on political, racial, religious or ethnic grounds, institutionalized discrimination, arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population, arbitrary imprisonment, rape, enforced prostitution and other inhuman acts committed in a systematic manner or on a large scale and instigated or directed by a Government or by any organization or group." This definition differs from the one used in Nuremberg, where the criminal acts were to have been committed "before or during the war", thus establishing a nexus between crimes against humanity and armed conflict.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 21 March 2013, at its 22nd session, the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Commission was mandated to investigate the systematic, widespread, and grave violations of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (i.e. North Korea), with a view to ensuring full accountability, in particular for violations that may amount to crimes against humanity.<ref>"Resolution A/HRC/RES/22/13: Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" Template:Webarchive Human Rights Council</ref> The Commission dealt with matters relating to crimes against humanity on the basis of definitions set out by customary international criminal law and in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.<ref name="ohchr.org">Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea – A/HRC/25/63, available at: Template:Cite web</ref> The 2014 Report by the Commission found "the body of testimony and other information it received establishes that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State [....] These crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation. The Commission further finds that crimes against humanity are ongoing in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea because the policies, institutions and patterns of impunity that lie at their heart remain in place." Additionally, the Commission found that crimes against humanity have been committed against starving populations, particularly during the 1990s and that they were still being committed against persons from other countries who were systematically abducted or denied repatriation because they sought to gain labour and other skills for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.<ref name="ohchr.org"/>
Security Council
[edit]UN Security Council Resolution 1674, adopted by the United Nations Security Council on 28 April 2006, "reaffirms the provisions of paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document regarding the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity".<ref>Resolution 1674 (2006) Template:Webarchive</ref> The resolution commits the Council to action to protect civilians in armed conflict.
In 2008 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1820, which noted that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide".<ref name="Un.org"/>
According to the United Nations Security Council resolution 1970 (2011) concerning Libya, any direct or indirect trade of arms to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, in the form of supply, transfer, or sale should be prevented by the member nations. The arms embargo restricts the supply of arms, weapons, military vehicles, spare parts, technical assistance, finances, and the provision of armed mercenaries with origins of a country other than the one providing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Later, the United Nations claimed in its November 2019 report that the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Turkey were then violating the arms embargo imposed on Libya under the 1970 resolution.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> An airstrike on the migrant detention center in Tripoli in July 2019, believed to have been carried out by the United Arab Emirates, can be amounted as a war crime, as stated by the United Nations. The airstrike was deadlier than the 2011 militarized uprising that overthrew the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
International courts and criminal tribunals
[edit]After the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials of 1945–1946, another international tribunal with jurisdiction over crimes against humanity was not established for another five decades. In response to atrocities committed in the 1990s, multiple ad hoc tribunals were established with jurisdiction over crimes against humanity. The statutes of the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda each contain different definitions of crimes against humanity.<ref>Burns, Peter, "Aspect of Crimes Against Humanity and the International Criminal Court" Template:Webarchive International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy. p. 6.</ref>
International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia
[edit]In 1993, the UN Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), with jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute three international crimes which had taken place in the former Yugoslavia: genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Article 5 of the ICTY Statute states that: Template:Blockquote
This definition of crimes against humanity revived the original 'Nuremberg' nexus with armed conflict, connecting crimes against humanity to both international and non-international armed conflict. It also expanded the list of criminal acts used in Nuremberg to include imprisonment, torture and rape.<ref name="ICTY Statute"/> Cherif Bassiouni has argued that this definition was necessary as the conflict in the former Yugoslavia was considered to be a conflict of both an international and non-international nature. Therefore, this adjusted definition of crimes against humanity was necessary to afford the tribunal jurisdiction over this crime.<ref>Cherif Bassiouni, M. Crimes against Humanity: Historical Evolution and Contemporary Application. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. p. 186</ref>
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
[edit]The UN Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1994 following the Rwandan genocide. Under the ICTR Statute, the link between crimes against humanity and an armed conflict of any kind was dropped. Rather, the requirement was added that the inhumane acts must be part of a "systematic or widespread attack against any civilian population on national, political, ethnic, racial or religious grounds."<ref>"ICTR Statute" Article 3</ref> Unlike the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the conflict in Rwanda was deemed to be non-international, so crimes against humanity would likely not have been applicable if the nexus to armed conflict had been maintained.
Special Court for Sierra Leone
[edit]Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
[edit]International Criminal Court
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In 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in The Hague (Netherlands), and the Rome Statute provides for the ICC to have jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. ICC proceedings definitions of a "crime against humanity" have evolved significantly from its original legal definition or that used by the UN.<ref name="crimesofwar">Template:Cite web</ref> Essentially, the Rome Statute employs the same definition of crimes against humanity that the ICTR Statute does, minus the requirement that the attack was carried out 'on national, political, ethnic, racial or religious grounds'. In addition, the Rome Statute definition offers the most expansive list of specific criminal acts that may constitute crimes against humanity to date.
The Rome Statute Explanatory Memorandum states that crimes against humanity: Template:Blockquote
To fall under the Rome Statute, a crime against humanity which is defined in Article 7.1 must be "part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population". Article 7.2.a states "For the purpose of paragraph 1: 'Attack directed against any civilian population means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack'." This means that an individual crime on its own, or even a number of such crimes, would not fall under the Rome Statute unless they were the result of a state policy or an organizational policy. This was confirmed by Luis Moreno Ocampo in an open letter publishing his conclusions about allegations of crimes committed during the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 which might fall under the ICC. In a section entitled "Allegations concerning Genocide and Crimes against Humanity," Ocampo states that "the available information provided no reasonable indicator of the required elements for a crime against humanity," i.e., 'a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population'".<ref>Luis Moreno OcampoTemplate:Cite web 9 February 2006, p. 4.</ref>
The ICC can only prosecute crimes against humanity in situations under which it has jurisdiction. The ICC only has jurisdiction over crimes contained in its statute – genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – which have been committed on the territory of a State party to the Rome Statute, when a non-party State refers a situation within its country to the court, or when the United Nation Security Council refers a case to the ICC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2005 the UN referred to the ICC the situation in Darfur. This referral resulted in an indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in 2008.<ref name="al-bashir">International Criminal Court, 14 July 2008.Template:Cite web. Accessed 14 July 2008.</ref> When the ICC President reported to the UN regarding its progress handling these crimes against humanity case, Judge Phillipe Kirsch said "The Court does not have the power to arrest these persons. That is the responsibility of States and other actors. Without arrests, there can be no trials."<ref>Judge Philippe Kirsch (President of the International Criminal Court)Template:Cite web (PDF) website ICC, 9 October 2006, p. 3.</ref>
Council of Europe
[edit]The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 30 April 2002 issued a recommendation to the member states, on the protection of women against violence. In the section "Additional measures concerning violence in conflict and post-conflict situations", states in paragraph 69 that member states should: "penalize rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity as an intolerable violation of human rights, as crimes against humanity and, when committed in the context of an armed conflict, as war crimes;"<ref>Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe: Recommendation (2002) 5 Template:Webarchive Paragraph 69.</ref>
In the Explanatory Memorandum on this recommendation when considering paragraph 69: Template:Blockquote
20th century
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Numerous sources cite the 20th century as the bloodiest century in global history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Millions of civilian infants, children, adults, and elderly people died in warfare. One civilian perished for every combatant killed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Prior to World War II, war criminals did not face the possibility of prosecution, apprehension, or imprisonment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill favored the outright execution of war criminals.<ref name="BF">Template:Cite news</ref> The United States was more lenient and called for a just trial.<ref name="BF" /> The British Government was convinced to institute the Nuremberg Trials, which left several legacies. These include worldwide jurisdiction for severe war crimes, the creation of international war crime tribunals, judicial procedures that effectively documented the history of colossal crimes, and the success of UN courts in holding impartial trials.<ref name="BF" />
South Africa operated under apartheid system from 1948 into the 1990s in violation of the 1973 Apartheid convention, which declared apartheid to be a crime against humanity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following international action and backlash, the apartheid system was dismantled at the end of the 20th century.
The UN highlighted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), specifically Article 7 (Crimes against Humanity), which defines large-scale acts of violence against a locality's civilian populace. These acts include murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of the population, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of international laws, torture, forced prostitution and rape, persecution against certain groups, apartheid (racial discrimination and segregation), and other inhumane acts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A publication from Trial International mentioned that crimes against humanity have been codified starting in 1990. These include the 1993 Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, the 1994 Statute of the International Tribunal for Rwanda, and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The latter contains the latest and most extensive list of detailed crimes against civilians.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
21st century
[edit]A report on the 2008–09 Gaza War by Richard Goldstone accused Israeli and Hamas forces of possibly committing a crime against humanity. The report concluded that Israel had used disproportionate force, targeted Palestinian civilians, used them as human shields, and destroyed civilian infrastructure. Hamas was found to have deliberately targeted Israeli civilians and Israeli infrastructure by mounting indiscriminate rocket attacks. Both the Israeli government and Hamas dismissed the findings of the report.<ref name="Russell">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In an April 2011 Washington Post article Goldstone wrote the report would have been a different document if he had known in 2009 what he knew in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2019, United Nations investigators announced that Israeli troops may have committed crimes against humanity. During the Gaza protests 189 Palestinians were killed, investigators said, 183 were shot with live ammunition, including 35 children, three health workers, and two journalists.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.<ref name="amnesty.org">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2022, the UN Human Rights Office assessment of human rights concerns in Xinjiang concluded that the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups in China, since 2017, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Myanmar military's targeting of the Rohingya Muslims in which more than 25,000 have been killed and more than 18,000 women and girls have been systematically raped have been labelled as crimes against humanity by United Nations and Amnesty International.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Retrieved</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> OHCHR Independent Fact-Finding Mission have found Tatmadaw of committing crimes against humanity, genocide, and ethnic cleansing.<ref name="fact-finding">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A report of a UN fact-finding mission, which was released in March 2024 and presided over by Sara Hossain, revealed that the Iranian regime engaged in systematic and egregious institutionalized crimes against humanity on a large scale. Between 2021 and 2022, 551 protestors were killed during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and 834 people were executed in 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The International Court of Justice, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, and Michael Lynk (UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian occupied territory) have accused Israel of committing apartheid against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.<ref name="guardian-20240719">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="amnesty.org" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Along with the apartheid system, Israel is also implicated in what many legal scholars say are crimes against humanity in the Gaza genocide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities systematically deprived Palestinian civilians in Gaza of water, food, and medical supplies, leading to widespread deaths and suffering, all acts of genocide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity, with a particular focus on Israel’s deliberate starvation of civilians as a weapon of war.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In April 2024, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, and demanding a halt to all arms sales to the country. 28 countries voted in favor, 13 abstained, and six voted against. Israel's ambassador accused the UN of anti-Israeli bias.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has faced significant international scrutiny for its crimes against humanity in the ongoing Sudanese conflict, particularly concerning support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Reports indicate that the UAE has been a key supplier of military equipment to the RSF, including weapons and drones, which have been used in operations leading to widespread atrocities in regions like Darfur.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Investigations have uncovered evidence suggesting that the UAE violated the United Nations arms embargo on Darfur by providing arms and ammunition to the RSF. This support has allegedly fueled the RSF’s campaign of violence, contributing to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In early 2025, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested after an ICC warrant due to the alleged extra-judicial killings done during his war on Drugs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> These acts were allegedly perpetuated during his presidency, with the aid and execution of his PNP Generals, most particularly Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa.Template:Cn
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]Template:Library resources box Template:Main
- Christopher R. Browning, "The Two Different Ways of Looking at Nazi Murder" (review of Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity", Knopf, 425 pp. and Christian Gerlach, The Extermination of the European Jews, Cambridge University Press, 508 pp., The New York Review of Books, vol. LXIII, no. 18 (November 24, 2016), pp. 56–58. Discusses Hersch Lauterpacht's legal concept of "crimes against humanity", contrasted with Rafael Lemkin's legal concept of "genocide". All genocides are crimes against humanity, but not all crimes against humanity are genocides; genocides require a higher standard of proof, as they entail intent to destroy a particular group.
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- (fr) Jean Albert (dir.), L'avenir de la justice pénale internationale, Institut Presage, Bruylant, 2018, 383 p. Template:ISBN
External links
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- Crimes of War project
- Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project
- What is a Crime Against Humanity? – an online video
- Genocide & Crimes Against Humanity – a learning resource, highlighting the cases of Myanmar, Bosnia, the DRC, and Darfur
- Crimes Against Humanity – Bibliographies on the topics of the International Law Commission & International Law Seminar (UNOG Library)