page_title: War crime
section_title: International Criminal Court 2002
hierarchical_section_title: War crime / History / International Criminal Court 2002
caption_attribution_description: English: In this July 1950 U.S. Army file photograph once classified "top secret," prisoners lie on the ground before their execution by South Korean troops in Taejon (now known as Daejeon), South Korea. Shutting down its inquiry into South Korea's hidden history, a government commission investigating a century of human rights abuses will leave unexplored scores of suspected mass graves believed to hold remains of tens of thousands of South Korean political detainees summarily executed by their government early in the Korean War, sometimes as U.S. officers watched. In a political about-face, the commission, which also investigated the U.S. military's large-scale killing of Korean War refugees, has ruled the Americans in case after case acted out of military necessity. 1,800 South Korean political prisoners were executed by the South Korean military at Taejon, South Korea, over three days in July 1950.[1] National Archives, Major Abbott/U.S. Army - copy via AP Photo
context_page_description: A war crime is an act that constitutes a serious violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility. Examples of crimes include intentionally killing civilians or prisoners, torturing, destroying civilian property, taking hostages, performing a perfidy, raping, using child soldiers, pillaging, declaring that no quarter will be given, and seriously violating the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity.
  The concept of war crimes emerged at the turn of the twentieth century when the body of customary international law applicable to warfare between sovereign states was codified. Such codification occurred at the national level, such as with the publication of the Lieber Code in the United States, and at the international level with the adoption of the treaties during the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. Moreover, trials in national courts during this period further helped clarify the law. Following the end of World War II, major developments in the law occurred. Numerous trials of Axis war criminals established the Nuremberg principles, such as notion that war crimes constituted crimes defined by international law.
context_section_description: On July 1, 2002, the International Criminal Court, a treaty-based court located in The Hague, came into being for the prosecution of war crimes committed on or after that date.  Several nations, most notably the United States, China, Russia, and Israel, have criticized the court. The United States still participates as an observer. Article 12 of the Rome Statute provides jurisdiction over the citizens of non-contracting states in the event that they are accused of committing crimes in the territory of one of the state parties.
  War crimes are defined in the statute that established the International Criminal Court, which includes:
  Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, such as:
  Willful killing, or causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
  Torture or inhumane treatment
  Unlawful wanton destruction or appropriation of property
  Forcing a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of a hostile power
  Depriving a prisoner of war of a fair trial
  Unlawful deportation, confinement or transfer
  Taking hostages
  Directing attacks against civilians
  Directing attacks against humanitarian workers or UN peacekeepers
  Killing a surrendered combatant
  Misusing a flag of truce
  Settlement of occupied territory
  Deportation of inhabitants of occupied territory
  Using poison weapons
  Using civilians as shields
  Using child soldiers
  Firing upon a Combat Medic with clear insignia.
  The following acts as part of a non-international conflict:
  Murder, cruel or degrading treatment and torture
  Directing attacks against civilians, humanitarian workers or UN peacekeepers
  The following acts as part of an international conflict:
  Taking hostages
  Summary execution
  Pillage
  Rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution or forced pregnancy
  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".
caption: Bodo League massacre during the Korean War in 1950
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