Crimes against humanity

{{crimenav}}The concept of '''crimes against humanity''' is a part of international customary law, and is not currently recognized by a dedicated international treaty.<ref name=un>[http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/crimes-against-humanity.html Crimes Against Humanity] United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect</ref> The concept was first used in 1915 by the Allied forces of [[World War I]] (then [[France]], [[Great Britain]], and [[Russia]]) with regards to the mass killings of [[Armenia]]ns within the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name=un/>

The 1998 Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court represents the current consensus on what characterizes crimes against humanity.<ref name=un/><ref name=icc>[https://www.icc-cpi.int/resource-library/Documents/RS-Eng.pdf Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court] (1998)</ref> The statute defines crimes against humanity as consisting of three parts: a physical element, a contextual element, and a mental element.<ref name=un/><ref name=icc/> The physical element consists of any of:<ref name=un/><ref name=icc/>
{{cquote|
#[[Murder]]
#[[Genocide|Extermination]]
#[[Slavery|Enslavement]]
#[[Ethnic cleansing|Deportation or forcible transfer of population]]
#Imprisonment
#[[Torture]]
#[[Rape|Grave forms of sexual violence]]
#{{wpl|Persecution}}<ref group=note>This means ''real'' persecution, not [[Persecution complex|the fantasies of whackjobs with a victimhood fetish]].</ref>
#Enforced disappearance of persons
#The crime of [[apartheid]]
#Other inhumane acts
}}
The contextual element is "when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population."<ref name=un/><ref name=icc/> The mental element is "with knowledge of the attack."<ref name=un/><ref name=icc/> Unlike [[war crimes]], crimes against humanity do not need to be linked to an armed conflict.<ref name=un/>

The first prosecutions of crimes against humanity were made in 1945 during the [[Nuremberg trials]] following the culmination of [[World War II]].<ref name=un/> Other prosecutions have been made in connection with:
*Wars in the former-Yugoslavia<ref name=un/>
*[[Rwandan Genocide]]<ref name=un/>
*[[Civil war]] in Sierra Leone<ref>{{wpa|Special Court for Sierra Leone}}</ref>
*[[Khmer Rouge]]<ref>{{wpa|Khmer Rouge Tribunal}}</ref>

The ICC has also issued arrest warrants for [[Vladimir Putin]], in connection to the illegal [[Russian]] invasion of [[Ukraine]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and|title=Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova|date=March 17, 2023|publisher=International Criminal Court}}</ref>, and {{wpl|Ismail Haniyeh}} and [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 2023-2024 Gaza War.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/world/middleeast/icc-arrest-warrants-israel-hamas.html|title=What to Know About the I.C.C. Prosecutor’s Request for Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders|date=May 20, 2024|publisher=''[[New York Times]]''}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ethnic cleansing]]
*[[Genocide]]
*[[War crimes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

[[Category:Crimes against humanity| ]]
[[Category:Law]]

Categories: Crimes against humanity, Law