.
War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave
labor campA labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s", "the murder or ill-treatment of
prisoners of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity".
Similar concepts, such as
perfidyIn the context of war, perfidy is a form of deception, in which one side promises to act in good faith with the intention of breaking that promise once the enemy has exposed himself In the context of war, perfidy is a form of deception, in which one side promises to act in good faith (e.g. by...
, have existed for many centuries as customary law between civilized countries. Many of these customary laws were clarified in the
Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of...
. The modern concept of war crime was further developed under the auspices of the
Nuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg trials were a series of trials, or tribunals, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after its defeat in World War II....
based on the definition in the
London CharterThe London Charter of the International Military Tribunal was the decree issued on August 8, 1945, that set down the laws and procedures by which the Nuremberg trials were to be conducted.The charter stipulated that crimes of the European Axis Powers could be tried...
that was published on August 8, 1945. (Also see
Nuremberg PrinciplesThe Nuremberg Principles were a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime. The document was created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations to recognize the legal principles underlying the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi party members following World War II.-...
.) Along with war crimes the charter also defined crimes against peace and
crimes against humanityCrimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
, which are often committed during wars and in concert with war crimes.
Article 22 of the Hague IV ("Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907") states that "The right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited" and over the last century many other treaties have introduced positive laws that place constraints on belligerents (see International treaties on the laws of war). Some of the provisions, such as those in the Hague conventions, are considered to be part of customary international law, and are binding on all. Others are only binding on individuals if the belligerent power to which they belong is a party to the treaty which introduced the constraint.
Definition
Colloquial definitions of
war crime include violations of established protections of the
laws of war, but also include failures to adhere to norms of procedure and rules of
battleGenerally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, wherein each group will seek to defeat the others within the scope of a military campaign, and are well defined in duration, area and force commitment.Wars and military campaigns...
, such as attacking those displaying a flag of truce, or using that same flag as a
ruse of warA ruse of war is an action taken by a belligerent in warfare to fool the enemy in order to gain intelligence or a military advantage against an enemy.-Examples:...
to mount an attack. Attacking enemy troops while they are being deployed by way of a parachute is not a war crime. However, Protocol I, Article 42 of the
Geneva ConventionsThe Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war. The singular term Geneva Convention refers to the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of World War II, updating...
explicitly forbids attacking parachutists who eject from damaged airplanes, and surrendering parachutists once landed. War crimes include such acts as mistreatment of
prisoners of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
or civilians. War crimes are sometimes part of instances of
mass murderMass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people, typically over a relatively short period of time. Mass murder may be committed by individuals or organizations. Mass murder is also defined to be intentional and indiscriminate murder of large number of people by government agents...
and
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
though these crimes are more broadly covered under
international humanitarian lawInternational humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus "comprised of the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It defines...
described as
crimes against humanityCrimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
.
War crimes are significant in international
humanitarianIn its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...
law because it is an area where international tribunals such as the
Nuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg trials were a series of trials, or tribunals, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after its defeat in World War II....
and
Tokyo trialsThe International Military Tribunal for the Far East , also known as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or simply as the Tribunal, was convened on May 3, 1946 to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" , "Class B" , and "Class C" , committed during...
have been convened. Recent examples are the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former YugoslaviaThe International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
and the
International Criminal Tribunal for RwandaThe International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , or the Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda , is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan genocide and other serious violations of the...
, which were established by the UN Security Council acting under Chapter VIII of the
UN CharterThe United Nations Charter is the treaty that forms and establishes the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the Herbst Theatre of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on June 26, 1945, by 50 of the 51 original...
.
Under the
Nuremberg PrinciplesThe Nuremberg Principles were a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime. The document was created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations to recognize the legal principles underlying the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi party members following World War II.-...
,
war crimes are different from crimes against peace which is planning, preparing, initiating, or waging a
war of aggressionA war of aggression is a military conflict waged absent the justification of self-defense. Waging such a war of aggression is a crime under the customary international law...
, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances.
History
Early example
The trial of
Peter von HagenbachPeter von Hagenbach was born into a Alsace-Bourgogne family. They were originally from Hagenbach and owned a castle there....
by an ad hoc tribunal of the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
in 1474, was the first “international” war crimes trial, and also of
command responsibilityCommand responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
. He was convicted and beheaded for crimes that "he as a knight was deemed to have a duty to prevent", although he had argued that he was only "following orders".
Hague Conventions
The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at
The HagueThe Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 485,818 and an area of approximately 100 km²...
, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the First and Second Geneva Conventions (1864 and 1909), among the first formal statements of the
laws of warThe law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...
and war crimes in the nascent body of secular
international lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
.
Geneva Conventions
The
Geneva ConventionsThe Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war. The singular term Geneva Convention refers to the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of World War II, updating...
are four related treaties adopted between 1864 and 1949 that represent a legal basis for International Law with regard to conduct of warfare. Not all nations are signatories to the GC, and as such retain different codes and values with regard to wartime conduct. Some signatories have routinely violated the Geneva Conventions in a way which either uses the ambiguities of law or political maneuvering to sidestep the laws' formalities and principles.
London Charter / Nuremburg Trials 1945
The modern concept of war crime was further developed under the auspices of the
Nuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg trials were a series of trials, or tribunals, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after its defeat in World War II....
based on the definition in the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal|London Charter that was published on August 8, 1945. (Also see
Nuremberg PrinciplesThe Nuremberg Principles were a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime. The document was created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations to recognize the legal principles underlying the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi party members following World War II.-...
.) Along with war crimes the charter also defined crimes against peace and
crimes against humanityCrimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
, which are often committed during wars and in concert with war crimes.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East 1946
Also known as the Tokyo Trial, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or simply as the Tribunal, it was convened on May 3, 1946 to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" (crimes against peace), "Class B" (war crimes), and "Class C" (crimes against humanity), committed during World War II.
International Criminal Court 2002
On July 1, 2002, the
International Criminal CourtThe International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .The court came into being on 1 July 2002 — the...
, a treaty-based court located in
The HagueThe Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 485,818 and an area of approximately 100 km²...
, came into being for the prosecution of war crimes committed on or after that date. However, several nations, most notably the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, and
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, have criticized the court and refuse to participate in it or to permit the court to have jurisdiction over their citizens. Note, however, that a citizen of one of the 'objector nations' could still appear before the Court if they were accused of committing war crimes in a country that was a state party, regardless of the fact that their country of origin was not a signatory.
However the court only has jurisdiction over these crimes where they are "
part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes".
Prominent indictees
Heads of state & government
To date, the present and former
heads of stateHead of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state...
and
heads of governmentHead of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc...
that have been charged with war crimes include:
- Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
Großadmiral Karl DönitzKarl Dönitz was a German naval Commander who served in the Imperial German Navy during World War I, and during World War II commanded first the German submarine fleet, and then the entire German Navy .In the final days of the war, Dönitz was named by Adolf Hitler as his successor, and after the...
, Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
s GeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
s Hideki TojoHideki Tōjō was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944...
and Kuniaki Koisowas a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Governor-General of Korea and 41st Prime Minister of Japan from 22 July 1944 to 7 April 1945.Koiso was born in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture as the son of an ex-samurai family...
of the Empire of JapanThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
in the aftermath of World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
- Former Yugoslav
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or FRY was a federal state consisting of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , created after the other four republics broke away from Yugoslavia amid rising ethnic tensions...
President Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia...
was brought to trial for alleged war crimes, but died as essentially an innocent man in custody on March 11, 2006 under suspicious circumstances and after mounting a vigorous defense, before the trial could be concluded after more than 4 years of proceedings.
- Former Liberian President Charles G. Taylor was also brought to the Hague charged with war crimes; his trial was provisionally scheduled to begin in April 2007, but was postponed until June 2007 to allow the defense more time to prepare, and is now ongoing.
- Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician, poet and psychiatrist. He is currently on trial in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats, and other non-Serbs during the Siege of Sarajevo...
was arrested in Belgrade on 18 July, 2008 and brought before Belgrade’s War Crimes Court a few days after. He was extradited to the Netherlands, and is currently in The Hague, in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has not yet entered a plea; his next appearance was on 29 August 2008.
- Omar al-Bashir
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a colonel in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.In...
, current head of state of SudanSudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest country in Africa and in the Arab World, and tenth largest in the world by area...
. He is currently resisting the indictment.
Other prominent indictees :
- Sadao Araki
Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before World War II. A charismatic leader and one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the late Japanese Empire, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the politicized Japanese Army...
and Yoshijiro Umezuwas a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.-Biography:Umezu was born in Ōita Prefecture. He graduated from the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903 and served in the infantry. After graduation at the top of the 23rd class of the Army Staff College, he was sent...
, generals in the Imperial Japanese ArmyThe Imperial Japanese Army , or literally Army of the Empire of Greater Japan was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1867 to 1945...
- Seishiro Itagaki, War minister
The , more popularly known as the Ministry of War of Japan was the cabinet-level ministry from 1872-1945 in charge with administration of the Imperial Japanese Army .-History:...
of the Empire of JapanThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
- Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring was a German politician, military leader and a leading member of the Nazi Party. Among many offices, he was Hitler's designated successor and commander of the Luftwaffe...
, Commander in Chief of the LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
.
- Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a senior Austrian official during World War II, holding the offices of Chief of the RSHA, and President of Interpol. He was the highest-ranking SS leader to face trial, having the full rank of Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS...
and Adolf EichmannOtto Adolf Eichmann , sometimes referred to as "the architect of the Holocaust", was a Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer...
- high ranking members of the SS.
- Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić , born March 12, 1942, was the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 and is now a fugitive....
(usually referred to as "General Mladić") has been indicted for genocide during the Bosnian WarThe Bosnian War, also known as the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was an international armed conflict that took place between March 1992 and November 1995. The war involved several sides...
; he has not been caught and awaits capture for multiple war crimes against Bosnian Muslims.
- Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Gustav Keitel was a German field marshal . As head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and de facto war minister, he was one of Germany's most senior military leaders during World War II...
- GeneralfeldmarschallGeneralfeldmarschall was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Austrian Empire, the rank Feldmarschall was used...
, head of the Oberkommando der WehrmachtThe Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.-Genesis:...
.
- Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder was a naval leader in Germany before and during World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank—that of Großadmiral —in 1939, becoming the first person to hold that rank since Alfred von Tirpitz...
- Großadmiral, Commander in Chief of the KriegsmarineThe Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine, and the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht.-Command structure:Adolf Hitler was the commander-in-chief...
.
- Kōichi Kido
Marquis ' served as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 1940 to 1945, and was the closest advisor to Emperor Showa throughout World War II.Kido was the grandson of Kido Takayoshi, one of the leaders of the Meiji Restoration...
, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of JapanThe was an administrative post not of cabinet rank in the government of the Empire of Japan. The Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal was responsible for keeping the Privy Seal of Japan and State Seal of Japan....
Punishment
The punishment for committing war crimes was
capital punishmentCapital punishment or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences....
, but in many cases, war criminals were sent to national prisons to live out the rest of their lives. At the modern international tribunals, capital punishment is banned, and conviction results in a sentence for a term of years. The convicted person serves his or her sentence in a national prison system, whose country has agreed with the tribunal to effect execution of sentence.
Ambiguity of the term
Because the definition of a state of "war" may be debated, the term "war crime" itself has seen different usage under different systems of international and military law. It has some degree of application outside of what some may consider to be a state of "war," but in areas where conflicts persist enough to constitute social instability.
The legalities of war have sometimes been accused of containing favoritism toward the winners ("
Victor's justiceThe label "victor's justice" means a situation in which an entity believes that a victorious nation is applying different rules to judge what is right or wrong for their own forces and for those of the enemy. Advocates generally charge that the difference in rules amounts to hypocrisy and leads...
"), as certain controversies have not been ruled as war crimes. Some examples include the Allies' destruction of civilian Axis targets during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(the
firebombingFirebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs....
of the German city of
DresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
is one such example), the use of atomic bombs on
Hiroshimais the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It became the first city in history assaulted by nuclear armament when the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on it on August 6, 1945, near the culmination...
and Nagasaki in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; the use of
Agent OrangeAgent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War...
against civilian targets in the
Vietnam warThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
; the mass killing of Biharies by Kader Siddique and Mukti Bahini before or after victory of
Bangladesh Liberation WarThe Bangladesh Liberation War
was a civil war in Pakistan resulting in the separation of Bangladesh and West Pakistan . The war broke out after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared Bangladeshi independence on 26 March 1971...
in Bangladesh between 1971 and 1972; and the
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n occupation of
East TimorEast Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
between 1976 and 1999.
Another example is the Allied re-designation of German POWs (under the protection of the Geneva conventions) into
Disarmed Enemy ForcesDisarmed Enemy Forces , and—less commonly—Surrendered Enemy Forces, was a U.S. designation, both for soldiers who surrendered to an adversary after hostilities ended, and for those previously surrendered POWs who were held in camps in occupied German territory at that time. It is mainly referenced...
(allegedly unprotected by the Geneva conventions), many of which then were used for forced labor such as clearing minefields. By December 1945 it was estimated by French authorities that 2,000 German prisoners were being killed or maimed each month in mine-clearing accidents.
In areas where International Law is yet unresolved, some ambiguity remains with regard to which crimes are considered as such and which are not.
See also
Country listings
- List of war crimes
- Allied war crimes during World War II
- War crimes committed by the United States
This article is to address the perceived "war crimes" in reference to the United States from the colonial period through modern times. The term "war crimes" is only applicable when there is a trial or accusation in a court of law domestic or international, such as the International Criminal Court....
- German war crimes
Germany committed war crimes in both World War I and World War II. The most notable of these is the Holocaust in which millions of people were murdered or died from abuse and neglect, 43% of them Jews...
- War crimes of the Wehrmacht
War crimes of the Wehrmacht were those carried out by German armed forces during World War II. While the principal perpetrators of the Holocaust amongst German armed forces were the Nazi German political armies , the traditional armed forces represented by the Wehrmacht committed war crimes of...
- Soviet war crimes
- Japanese war crimes
Japanese war crimes occurred during the period of Japanese imperialism. Some of the incidents have also been described as an Asian Holocaust and Japanese war atrocities...
- International Military Tribunal for the Far East
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East , also known as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or simply as the Tribunal, was convened on May 3, 1946 to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" , "Class B" , and "Class C" , committed during...
- United States Senate Committee on the Philippines
The Committee on the Philippines was a standing committee of the United States Senate from 1899 to 1921. The committee was established by Senate resolution on December 15, 1899, to oversee administration of the Philippines, which Spain had ceded to the United States as part of the settlement of the...
- 1971 Bangladesh atrocities
Beginning with the start of Operation Searchlight on 25 March 1971 and continuing throughout the Bangladesh War of Independence, there were widespread violations of human rights in East Pakistan perpetrated by the Pakistan Army with support from local political and religious militias. Time...
- Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
Legal issues
- Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project (RULAC)
The or is an initiative of the to support the application and implementation of international law in armed conflict...
- Laws of war
The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...
- Command responsibility
Command responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
- War Crimes Law (Belgium)
Belgium's War Crimes Law invokes the concept of universal jurisdiction to allow anyone to bring war crime charges in Belgian courts, regardless of where the alleged crimes have taken place....
- Russell Tribunal
The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal or Russell-Sartre Tribunal, was a public body organized by British philosopher Bertrand Russell and hosted by French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre...
- The International Criminal Court and the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court reported in February 2006 that he had received 240 communications in connection with the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 which alleged that various war crimes had been committed...
- Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Special Court for Sierra Leone is an independent judicial body set up to "try those who bear greatest responsibility" for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 during the Sierra Leone Civil War...
Miscellaneous
- Crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
- Crime against peace
A crime against peace, in international law, refers to "planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of wars of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing"...
- NKVD prisoner massacres
- Consequences of German Nazism
German Nazism and the acts of the Nazi German state profoundly affected many countries, communities and peoples before, during and after World War II...
- Human shield
Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets...
- International Criminal Court investigations
- Transitional justice
Transitional justice generally refers to a range of approaches that states may use to address past human rights violations and includes both judicial and non-judicial approaches. They include series of actions or policies and their resulting institutions, which may be enacted at a point of...
- Nuremberg Principles
The Nuremberg Principles were a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime. The document was created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations to recognize the legal principles underlying the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi party members following World War II.-...
- Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass murder of thousands of Polish military officers, policemen, intellectuals and civilian prisoners of war by Soviet NKVD, based on a proposal from Lavrentiy Beria to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps...
- Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica Massacre, also known as the Srebrenica Genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, as well as the ethnic cleansing of 25,000-30,000 refugees in the area of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the...
- Forensic archaeology
Forensic archaeology, a forensic science, is the application of archaeological principles, techniques and methodologies in a legal context ....
- Terror bombing
Terror bombing is an emotive term used to describe aerial attacks made by a belligerent to demoralise an enemy.[For terrorist attacks that involve bombings see the articles terrorism and List of terrorist incidents] Use of the term to describe aerial attacks implies that the...
Further reading
- Mark Santillen "My Life with Pietro Koch
Pietro Koch was an Italian soldier and leader of the Banda Koch, a group notorious for its anti-partisan activity in the Republic of Salo.The son of a German Navy officer, Koch was born in Benevento...
- The history of the beast of Frascati". Gunther edition , Rome 2007
- Aryeh Neier
Aryeh Neier is an American human rights activist who serves as the president of the Open Society Institute and had earlier been Executive Director of Human Rights Watch and National Director of the American Civil Liberties Union....
, War Crimes: Brutality, Genocide, Terror and the Search for Justice. New York: Times Books & Random House, 1998.
- Fabio Maniscalco, World Heritage and War, monographic collection "Mediterraneum", vol. 6, Naples: Massa Publisher, 2007.
- The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project
- Documents and Resources on War, War Crimes and Genocide
- Iraqi Special Tribunal
- Crimes of War Project
- Rome Treaty of the International Criminal Court
- Special Court for Sierra Leone
- UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
- Weblog about the hunt for indicted warcriminals in the Former Yugoslavia
- Web page about the war crimes against cultural property
- UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- Ad-Hoc Court for East Timor
- CBC Digital Archives -Fleeing Justice: War Criminals in Canada
- USArmy Crimes in Iraq
- Khojaly massacre
The Khojaly Massacre was the killing of hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians from the town of Khojaly on 25 February 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...