"A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action..."
Violations of the laws and customs of war, including murder, torture, and other crimes.
Geneva Conventions: A set of international agreements designed to protect civilians, prisoners of war, and wounded soldiers during times of armed conflict.
International Humanitarian Law: The body of international law that governs the conduct of armed conflicts and seeks to protect civilians and non-combatants from harm.
Hague Conventions: A set of international agreements that governs the conduct of warfare, including the treatment of prisoners of war, the protection of cultural property, and the rules of naval combat.
Crimes against humanity: A category of international crimes that includes widespread or systematic attacks on civilian populations, including murder, torture, rape, enslavement, and forced displacement.
War crimes: Serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during armed conflicts, including targeting civilians, torture, forced displacement, and pillage.
International Criminal Court: An international tribunal created to prosecute individuals responsible for the most serious international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Command responsibility: The responsibility of commanding officers for the actions of their subordinates, including acts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Military tribunals: Courts established to try individuals for violations of military law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Nuremberg Trials: A series of trials held in Nuremberg, Germany after World War II to prosecute individuals responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Rwanda Genocide: A genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994 that saw the deaths of approximately 800,000 people.
Srebrenica Massacre: A mass killing that happened during the Bosnian War in 1995, involving the deaths of over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys.
Chemical warfare: The use of toxic chemicals (such as nerve agents and mustard gas) during armed conflicts, which is illegal under international law.
Biological warfare: The use of biological agents (such as disease-causing bacteria and viruses) during armed conflicts, which is also illegal under international law.
Cyber warfare: The use of computer-based attacks to disrupt or destroy enemy infrastructure or to gather intelligence, which presents a new challenge in the context of modern warfare and international law.
Drone warfare: The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to conduct military operations, which presents new ethical and legal questions relating to the use of force and targeted killings.
crimes against humanity: Crimes against humanity refer to widespread and systematic acts committed against a civilian population, including murder, torture, enslavement, and persecution, among others, during times of war or peace, as part of a government policy or as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a specific group.
murder: In the context of Law and War Crimes, murder refers to the intentional and unlawful killing of an individual.
torture: Torture refers to the deliberate infliction of severe physical or mental pain upon individuals, often to obtain information or exert control, which is widely prohibited under international and domestic laws.
genocide: Genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic, religious, or national group with the intent to eliminate its existence.
"...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..."
"...the conscription of children in the military..."
"...flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity."
"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."
"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 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."
"...international courts extrapolated and defined additional categories of war crimes..."
"...applicable to a civil war."
"...individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action..."
"...a violation of the laws of war..."
"...such as intentionally killing civilians..."
"...individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action..."
"In the late 20th century and early 21st century, international courts extrapolated and defined additional categories of war crimes..."