War crime

committed many war crimes during World War II.  People at concentration camps like these were tortured, starved, murdered, and were caused great suffering]]

A **war crime** is a crime that breaks international laws of war. These laws say what is allowed during war and what is not. Today, these international laws are the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Convention.

## Definition
To be a war crime, a crime must be part of a plan or has to be committed against protected persons and must be committed during a war. 
### International armed conflicts
In international armed conflicts, only prisoners of war, wounded and sick enemy fighters, shipwrecked survivors, and enemy civilians are protected persons. Nationals under their own authority as well as neutral civilians living in a belligerent state and allied citizens as long their states maintain diplomatic relations with a belligerent power are not protected persons under the law of war in the same conflicts.
### Non-international armed conflicts
In non-international armed conflicts, persons not taking part in hostilities are protected regardless of nationality.

### General war crimes
 by the Viet Cong and People's Army of Vietnam, 1968]]]] attack during World War I]] prisoners of war at a Nazi concentration camp, where many were starved, tortured, and murdered]]

These are war crimes whether they are committed against enemy soldiers or protected civilians or neutral persons.
* Torture
* Taking hostages
*  or stealing property
* Willful attacks on neutral persons, property, or territory
* Doing medical experiments on a person that will hurt them
* Causing "great suffering" (severe physical or mental pain) on purpose
* Keeping a person in jail, sentencing them, or executing them without a trial
* Using chemical weapons, biological weapons, or other weapons that are illegal under international law

### Sexual war crimes
These are war crimes whether they are committed against enemy soldiers or protected civilians or neutral persons.
* Rape
* Sexual slavery
* Forcing a person to get sterilized
* Forcing a woman to get pregnant
* Forcing a person to be a prostitute
* Sexual violence, including all other types of sexual abuse

### War crimes against protected civilians 
War crimes against protected civilians include:
* Forcing protected children to become soldiers
* Forcing protected civilians to leave their home countries
* Starving protected civilians on purpose, as a way of making war
* Attacking protected civilians, killing them, or destroying their property
* Making an attack that is obviously going to kill and injure many protected civilians
* Attacking places like religious buildings, schools, and hospitals, which have nothing to do with war
* Mutilating a protected civilian, e.g. by cutting off an arm or hurting them in other ways that will show forever

### War crimes against enemy soldiers
War crimes against enemy soldiers include:
* Killing prisoners of war
* Hurting or killing a person who has surrendered
* Hurting or killing a person who is clearly a military medic or a chaplain
* Tricking enemy soldiers by using a flag to signal a truce, then attacking
* Hurting or killing a person who is unable to fight, e.g. because they are injured or sick
* Using flags, insignia, or uniforms worn by enemy soldiers or the United Nations as a disguise while attacking

### War crimes against neutral persons
War crimes against neutral persons include:
* Hurting or killing a person who is a peacekeeper
* Hurting or killing a person whose country is not participating in an armed conflict, e.g. a neutral warship in belligerent waters

## Examples of war crimes
This table shows some examples of war crimes.

## Photo gallery

Louvain1915.jpg|The destroyed Belgian city of Leuven in 1915 by German occupation troops
British 55th Division gas casualties 10 April 1918.jpg|British troops blinded by poison gas during the Battle of Estaires
Chinese_civilians_to_be_buried_alive.jpg|Japanese soldiers bury Chinese civilian prisoners alive during the Nanjing Massacre
Zniszczenia1939 0.jpg|Nazi invasion of Poland destroyed this Polish city, including civilian buildings
Katyn Massacre - Mass Graves 2.jpg|Mass grave of Polish officers killed in the massacre at Katyn Forest
Seamen at Kaneohe NAS decorate graves of Pearl Harbor victims.jpg|Seamen at Kaneohe Naval Air Station decorate the graves of their fellow neutral sailors killed at Pearl Harbor
Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1993-020-26A,_Lidice,_Ort_nach_Zerstörung.jpg|Lidice massacre in 1942 after its destruction by the Nazis
Va006869.jpg|Bits of tattered clothing, sandals and slippers are examined by Vietnamese women who lost relatives in the 1968 Huế massacre
Sardashtchemic.jpg|Iranian victims of the Iraqi chemical attack on Sardasht
Darfur IDPs children sitting.jpg|A Sudanese family sitting in a refugee camp
ICC member states.svg|Some countries (red on this map) have not agreed to be part of the ICC.  This makes it harder for the ICC to punish war crimes in those countries

## Related pages
* The Holocaust
* Bosnian genocide
* Hague Convention
* Rwandan genocide
* Geneva Conventions
* Cambodian genocide
* Command responsibility
* Crimes against humanity

## References