Definition Of Crime Against Humanity In International Law

Crimes against humanity constitute one distinct category of international crimes addressed by the united nations office on genocide prevention and the responsibility to protect in addition the crime of genocide and war crimes.

Definition of crime against humanity in international law. Crime against humanity conduct the scale and depravity of which attracts international sanction as well as often being a crime in national laws. Crimes against humanity refer to specific crimes committed in the context of a large scale attack targeting civilians regardless of their nationality. Initially being considered for legal use widely in international law following the armenian genocide. Crimes against humanity consist of various acts murder extermination enslavement torture forcible.

One of the most common crimes against humanity is genocide which is the murder of a large portion of the population. Crimes against humanity are criminal acts that target a group of people based on their religion ethnicity or some other trait which is not a direct result of something that group has done. These crimes include murder torture sexual violence enslavement persecution enforced disappearance etc. Crime against humanity an offense in international criminal law adopted in the charter of the international military tribunal nürnberg charter which tried surviving nazi leaders in 1945 and was in 1998 incorporated into the rome statute of the international criminal court icc.

What are crimes against humanity. Crimes against humanity have since been prosecuted by other international courts as well as in domestic prosecutions. Crime against humanity refers to a category of crimes against international law which includes the most egregious violations of human dignity especially those directed toward civilian populations the modern understanding of crimes against humanity is codified in the founding statutes of the international criminal tribunals including the international criminal tribunal for the former. 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.

Crimes against humanity constitute a well defined international norm under international law. The first prosecution for crimes against humanity took place at the nuremberg trials.