Crimes against humanity

A crime against humanity is a term in international law that refers to acts of murderous persecution against a body of people, as being the criminal offence above all others. International relations scholars have broadly defined "crimes against humanity" as acts so grave, on a scale so large, that their very execution diminishes the human race as a whole .

On May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers, Britain, France, and Russia, jointly issued a statement explicitly charging for the first time ever another government of committing "a crime against humanity". This joint statement stated:

"[i]n view of these new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied Governments announce publicly to the Sublime Porte that they will hold personally responsible for these crimes all members of the Ottoman Government, as well as those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres"^[1].

The London Charter of the International Military Tribunal was the decree that set down the laws and procedures by which the post World War II Nuremberg trials were to be conducted. The charter defined that only crimes of the European Axis Powers could be tried. Article 6 stated that the Tribunal was established for the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries; paragraph 6.a defined crimes against peace, 6.b war crimes and paragraph 6.c:

Crimes Against Humanity: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated. ^[2]

In the Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Trial of German Major War Criminals it was stated:

The Tribunal therefore cannot make a general declaration that the acts before 1939 were crimes against humanity within the meaning of the Charter, but from the beginning of the war in 1939 war crimes were committed on a vast scale, which were also crimes against humanity; and insofar as the inhumane acts charged in the Indictment, and committed after the beginning of the war, did not constitute war crimes, they were all committed in execution of, or in connection with, the aggressive war, and therefore constituted crimes against humanity.^[3]

The systematic persecution of African people by the South African apartheid government was recognized as a crime against humanity by the United Nations in 1976.^[4]

In 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in The Hague (Netherlands), following the principle of universal jurisdiction. The "Rome Statute" provides for the ICC to have jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Article 7 of the treaty stated that:

For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack^[5]:

(a) Murder;

(b) Extermination;

(c) Enslavement;

(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;

(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;

(f) Torture;

(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;

(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;

(i) Enforced disappearance of persons;

(j) The crime of apartheid;

(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

The term has been criticized for being extremely vague and for being politically defined. For example, Nazi attempts to eliminate certain ethnic groups were recognized as having been crimes against humanity, yet Soviet persecutions of certain groups or terror bombing of the civilian population were not. There has never been a trial determining whether the term applied to acts of allied forces.

See also

• Democide
• Ethnic cleansing
• Genocide
• Mass murder
• Nuremberg Principles
• State terrorism
• International crime
• The Interpreter, film about a character apparently based on Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe seeking to avoid indictment by the UN Security Council for trial before the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity. The attempt to indict Mugabe for crimes aganist humanity is supported by the International Bar Association.

References

• William A. Schabas, Genocide in International Law: The Crimes of Crimes, Cambridge University Press, 2000,

Notes

1. ^ 1915 declaration
   • Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution (Introduced in House of Representatives) 109th Congress, 1st Session, H.RES.316, June 14, 2005. 15 September 2005 House Committee/Subcommittee:International Relations actions. Status: Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 40 - 7.
   • "Crimes Against Humanity", 23 British Yearbook of International Law (1946) p. 181
   • Schabas References pp. 16-17
   • Original source of the telegram sent by the Department of State, Washington containing the French, British and Russian joint declaration
2. ^ Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 1 Charter of the International Military Tribunal contained in the Avalon Project archive at Yale Law School
3. ^ Judgement : The Law Relating to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity contained in the Avalon Project archive at Yale Law School
4. ^ International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid dopted and opened for signature, ratification by General Assembly resolution 3068 (XXVIII) of 30 November 1973. Entry into force 18 July 1976, in accordance with article X (10)
5. ^ Rome statute of the International Criminal Court Article 7: Crimes against humanity.

External links

• Crimes of War project