The legal definition of crimes against humanity, as they are understood today, can be found in the ICC Statute. A crime against humanity is one of the acts listed below when committed “as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack”: murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation; persecution on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender or other grounds; apartheid; arbitrary imprisonment; torture; rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence; enforced disappearance of persons; or other inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to the body or to mental or physical health.
OUTLINE
CASES
- Germany, International Criminal Code (para 7)
- Hungary, War Crimes resolution
- Case Study, Armed Conflicts in the former Yugoslavia
- ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Tadic (B. paras 618-654; C. paras 238-304)
- ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Kupreskic (paras 567-636)
- ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Blaskic (A. paras 66-72; B. 94-128)
- ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Kunarac, Kovac and Vukovic
- Case Study, Armed Conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea
- 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Sexual and gender-based violence: joint action on prevention and response
- Colombia, Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Extrajudicial Executions in Casanare
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
Suggested readings :
BASSIOUNI M. Cherif, Crimes against Humanity in International Criminal Law, The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 1999, 610 pp.
BYRON Christine, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2009, 285 pp.
DINSTEIN Yoram, “Crimes against Humanity”, in MAKARCZYK Jerzy, Theory of International Law at the Threshold of the 21st Century, The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 1996, pp. 891-908.
FRULLI Micaela, “Are Crimes Against Humanity More Serious than War Crimes?”, in EJIL, Vol. 12/2, 2001, pp. 329-350.
JIA Bing Bing, “The Differing Concepts of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in International Criminal Law”, in GOODWIN-GILL Guy S. (ed.), The Reality of International Law, Oxford, Clarendon, 1999, pp. 243-271.
JUROVICS Yann, Réflexions sur la spécificité du crime contre l’humanité, Paris, LGDJ, 2002, 525 pp.
PALOMBINO Fulvio Maria, “The Overlapping between War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in International Criminal Law”, in Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 12, 2002, pp. 123-145.
POILLEUX Sylvia, “Le crime contre l’humanité: limites actuelles et perspectives d’avenir”, in L’Astrée, Vol. 8, 1999, pp. 43-57.
ROBERTSON Geoffrey, Crimes Against Humanity: the Struggle for Global Justice, London, Penguin, 3rd ed., 2006, 758 pp.
ROBINSON Darryl, “Crimes against Humanity: Reflections on State Sovereignty, Legal Precision and the Dictates of the Public Conscience”, in LATTANZI Flavia & SCHABAS William A. (eds), Essays on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Ripa Fagnano Alto, Sirente, 1999, pp. 139-169.
ZAKR Nasser, “Approche analytique du crime contre l’humanité en droit international”, in RGDIP, Vol. 105/2, 2001, pp. 281-306.
Further readings :
BLANCHET Dominique, “L’esclavage des Noirs dans la définition du crime contre l’humanité: de l’inclusion impossible à l’intégration implicite”, in Revue de la Recherche Juridique – Droit Prospectif, Vol. 24/4, 1999, pp. 1173-1205.
CHALANDON Sorj, Crime contre l’humanité: Barbie, Touvier, Bousquet, Papon, Paris, Plon, 1998, 517 pp.
DINSTEIN Yoram, “Crimes Against Humanity after Tadic”, in LeidenJournal of International Law, Vol. 13/2, 2000, pp. 373-393.
FLORES ACUNA Tathiana, “The Rome Statute’s Sexual Related Crimes: an Appraisal under the Light of International Humanitarian Law”, in Humanitäres Völkerrecht, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2006, pp. 39-51.
LAQUIÈZE Alain, “Le débat de 1964 sur l’imprescriptibilité des crimes contre l’humanité”, in Droits, Vol. 31, 2000, pp. 19-40.
LATTANZI Flavia, “Crimes Against Humanity in the Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda”, in FISCHER Horst (ed.), International and National Prosecution of Crimes Under International Law, Berlin, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2001, pp. 473-504.
NSABIMANA Christian Garuka, “The Interpretation of the Concept of “Other Inhumane Acts” in Armed Conflicts by the ICTY and ICTR and its Impact on IHL and Human Rights Law”, in African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law 2008, 2007, pp. 163-174.
SLYE Ronald C., “Apartheid as a Crime against Humanity: A Submission to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission”, in MJIL, Vol. 20, February, 1999, pp. 267-300.
VAN SCHAAK Beth, “The Definition of Crimes against Humanity: Resolving the Incoherence”, in ColumbiaJournal of Transnational Law, Vol. 37/3, 1998, pp. 787-850.
ZAWATI Hilmi M., “Impunity or Immunity: Wartime Male Rape and Sexual Torture as a Crime against Humanity”, in Torture: Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2007, pp. 27-47.