WAR CRIMES

War crime - Wikipedia

List of war crimes - Wikipedia

DEFINITION

War crimes are serious violations of the rules of customary and treaty law concerning international humanitarian law, criminal offenses for which there is individual responsibility.^[23]

This article lists and summarizes the war crimes that have violated the laws and customs of war since the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.

Since many war crimes are not prosecuted (due to lack of political will, lack of effective procedures, or other practical and political reasons),^[1] historians and lawyers will frequently make a serious case in order to prove that war crimes occurred, even though the alleged perpetrators of these crimes were never formally prosecuted because investigations cleared them of all charges.

Under international law, war crimes were formally defined as crimes during international trials such as the Nuremberg Trials and the Tokyo Trials, in which Austrian, German and Japanese leaders were prosecuted for war crimes which were committed during World War II.

A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostages, unnecessarily destroying civilian property, deception by perfidy, wartime sexual violence, pillaging, and for any individual that is part of the command structure who orders any attempt to committing mass killings including genocide or ethnic cleansing, the granting of no quarter despite surrender, the conscription of children in the military and flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity.^[1]

The formal concept of war crimes emerged from the codification of the customary international law that applied to warfare between sovereign states, such as the Lieber Code (1863) of the Union Army in the American Civil War and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for international war.^[1]

In the aftermath of the WWII, the war-crime trials of the leaders of the Axis powers established the Nuremberg principles of law, such as that international criminal law defines what is a war crime.

In 1949, the Geneva Conventions legally defined new war crimes and established that states could exercise universal jurisdiction over war criminals.^[1]

In the late 20th century and early 21st century, international courts extrapolated and defined additional categories of war crimes applicable to a civil war.^[1]

International Criminal Court 2002

Bodies of some of the hundreds of Vietnamese villagers who were killed by U.S. soldiers during the My Lai Massacre

On July 1, 2002, the International Criminal Court, a treaty-based court located in The Hague, came into being for the prosecution of war crimes committed on or after that date. Several nations, most notably the United States, China, Russia, and Israel, have criticized the court. The United States still participates as an observer. Article 12 of the Rome Statute provides jurisdiction over the citizens of non-contracting states if they are accused of committing crimes in the territory of one of the state parties.^[10]

War crimes are defined in the statute that established the International Criminal Court, which includes:

1. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, such as:
   1. Willful killing, or causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
   2. Torture or inhumane treatment
   3. Unlawful wanton destruction or appropriation of property
   4. Forcing a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of a hostile power
   5. Depriving a prisoner of war of a fair trial
   6. Unlawful deportation, confinement or transfer
   7. Taking hostages
   8. Directing attacks against civilians
   9. Directing attacks against humanitarian workers or UN peacekeepers
   10. Killing a surrendered combatant
   11. Misusing a flag of truce, a flag or uniform of the enemy
   12. Settlement of occupied territory
   13. Deportation of inhabitants of occupied territory
   14. Using poison weapons
   15. Using civilians as shields
   16. Using child soldiers
   17. Firing upon a Combat Medic with clear insignia.
2. The following acts as part of a non-international conflict:
   1. Murder, cruel or degrading treatment and torture
   2. Directing attacks against civilians, humanitarian workers or UN peacekeepers
3. The following acts as part of an international conflict:
   1. Taking hostages
   2. Summary execution
   3. Pillage
   4. Rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution or forced pregnancy

The court only has jurisdiction over these crimes when they are "part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes".^[11]