War crime
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]
For other uses, see War crime (disambiguation).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 Second World War, 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]
The for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field was adopted in 1864 and then significantly revised and replaced by the 1906 version,[5] the 1929 version, and later the First Geneva Convention of 1949.[6]
First Geneva Convention
The for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea was adopted in 1906[7] and then significantly revised and replaced by the Second Geneva Convention of 1949.
Second Geneva Convention
The relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was adopted in 1929 and then significantly revised and replaced by the Third Geneva Convention of 1949.
Third Geneva Convention
The relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War was first adopted in 1949, based on parts of the 1907 Hague Convention IV.
Fourth Geneva Convention
President Vladimir Putin, for his contribution in the illegal abduction of children from Ukraine and deportation into Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[12]
Russian
German and President Karl Dönitz and Japanese Prime Ministers and Generals Hideki Tōjō and Kuniaki Koiso in the aftermath of World War II.
Großadmiral
Former President Slobodan Milošević was brought to trial charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in three republics. This pertained to superior responsibility for the Bosnia and Croatia indictments, and individual responsibility for the Kosovo indictment. He was acquitted as he died in custody in 2006, before the trial ended.[13]
Serbian
Former Charles G. Taylor was also brought to The Hague charged with war crimes; his trial stretched from 2007 to March 2011. He was convicted in April 2012 of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.[14][15]
Liberian President
Former Radovan Karadžić was arrested in Belgrade on July 18, 2008, and brought before Belgrade's War Crimes Court a few days later. He was extradited to the Netherlands, and is currently in The Hague, in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The trial began in 2010. On March 24, 2016, he was found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, war crimes and crimes against humanity, 10 of the 11 charges in total, and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment.[16][17] He was sentenced to life on appeal.[18]
Bosnian Serb President
former head of state of Sudan, is charged with three counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes regarding the war in the Darfur region of Sudan.[19][20]
Omar al-Bashir
Former leader Muammar Gaddafi was indicted for allegedly ordering the killings of protesters and civilians and crimes against humanity, during the 2011 Libyan civil war, and was killed in October 2011 before he could stand trial.
Libyan
Former President Alberto Fujimori was charged with several counts of human rights violations committed by his government and affiliated death squads during his regime.[21][22][23][24][25]
Peruvian
Cryer, Robert (2007). . Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87609-4.
An introduction to international criminal law and procedure
Dinstein, Yôrām (2004). . Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54227-2. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
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Hagopian, Patrick (2013). American Immunity: War Crimes and the Limits of International Law. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Horvitz, Leslie Alan; Catherwood, Christopher (2011). (Hardcover). Vol. 2 (Revised ed.). New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-8083-0. ISBN 0-8160-8083-6
Encyclopedia of War Crimes & Genocide
Shaw, Malcolm N. (November 24, 2008). . Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-72814-0. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
International law
Solis, Gary D. (2010). . Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87088-7. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War
. Amnesty International. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
"Amnesty International"
. International Committee of the Red Cross. October 3, 2013.
"International criminal jurisdiction"
. Northwestern University School of Law Center for International Human Rights and Documentation Center of Cambodia. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
"Cambodia Tribunal Monitor"
Burns, John (January 30, 2008). . Crimes of War Project. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
"Quarter, Giving No"
Human Rights First;
Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan
TheRule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project
Iraqi Special Tribunal
Crimes of War Project
Rome Treaty of the International Criminal Court
Special Court for Sierra Leone
Ad-Hoc Court for East Timor
CBC Digital Archives -Fleeing Justice: War Criminals in Canada
A Criminological Analysis of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq By Ronald C. Kramer and Raymond J. Michalowski
– which bans war crimes