International Crimes

International criminal law prosecutes the gravest crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. Four crimes make up its core: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. This page defines each of them briefly and links to a full entry with the legal elements, the sources of law and every case related to the crime before the tribunals covered by Peace Through Law.

The definitions follow the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The core international crimes

Genocide

Article 6 Rome Statute 

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:

  • 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
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Crimes against humanity

Article 7 Rome 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:

  • Murder
  • Extermination
  • Enslavement
  • Deportation or forcible transfer of population
  • Imprisonment
  • Torture
  • Rape and other forms of sexual violence
  • Persecution
  • Enforced disappearance
  • The crime of apartheid
  • Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering

War crimes

Article 8 Rome Statute 

War crimes are serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the context of, and associated with, an international or non-international armed conflict.

  • Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
  • Violations of the laws or customs of war.

Crime of aggression

Article 8 bis Rome Statute 

The crime of aggression is the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to control or direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression that constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations by its character, gravity and scale. For example:

  • Invasion or military occupation, and annexation by the use of force.
  • Bombardment or blockade by the armed forces of one State against another.
  • The blockade of the ports or coasts of a State by the armed forces of another State.

Each entry is updated regularly as new judgments and decisions are issued. To follow the cases by court, visit the pages on the ICTY, the ICTR, the ICC, the KSC and other tribunals.