Crimes against humanity consist of acts such as murder, extermination, enslavement, torture, forced displacement, imprisonment, rape, persecution, enforced disappearances and apartheid, among others, when, according to the ICC, they are « committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population ». The term also has a broader use to condemn other acts that, in an oft-used phrase, « shock the conscience of humanity. » Global poverty, man-made environmental disasters and terrorist attacks have therefore been characterized as crimes against humanity. The wider use of the term can only serve to record the highest possible level of moral outrage, or the intention may be to suggest that these offences be officially recognized as criminal offences. Article 3 of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR): « .. the following crimes, when committed in the context of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population on national, political, ethnic, racial or religious grounds: This definition differs from the Nuremberg definition used above where crimes should have been committed « before or during the war » and thus establishes a link between crimes against humanity and armed conflict. In 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in The Hague, Netherlands, and the Rome Statute provides that the ICC has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The definition of what constitutes a « crime against humanity » for ICC proceedings has expanded considerably from its original legal definition or that used by the United Nations. [49] In essence, the Rome Statute uses the same definition of crimes against humanity as the ICTR Statute, minus the requirement that the attack was carried out « for national, political, ethnic, racial or religious reasons. » In addition, the definition of the Rome Statute provides the most comprehensive list to date of specific crimes that may constitute crimes against humanity. The Multilateral Declaration of the Powers on the Abolition of the Slave Trade of 8. February 1815 (which also constituted Section XV of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna of the same year) contained in its first sentence the concept of « principles of humanity and universal morality » to justify the cessation of a trade « contemptible in its continuation ». [4] (iii) Deliberate attacks against personnel, installations, equipment, units or vehicles participating in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, provided that they are entitled to the protection accorded to civilians or civilian objects under international law in the event of armed conflict; Nevertheless, a 1948 UN report referred to the use of the term « crimes against humanity » in reference to the massacres of Armenians as a precedent for the Nuremberg and Tokyo Charters. 15. In May 1948, the Economic and Social Council produced a 384-page report prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNFC)[9] based in London (October 1943) to collect and document war crimes and war criminals.

[10]:129 The report responds to the UN Secretary-General`s call for « the collection and publication of human rights information arising from the trials of war criminals, quislings and traitors, in particular the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials. » The report was prepared by members of the Commission`s legal staff. The report is highly topical with regard to the Armenian genocide, not only because it uses the events of 1915 as a historical example, but also as a precedent for Articles 6(c) and 5(c) of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Charters, and thus as a precursor to the recently adopted United Nations Genocide Convention. which distinguishes between war crimes and crimes against humanity. Referring to information gathered during the First World War and presented by the competent Commission in 1919, the report, entitled « Human Rights Information from War Crimes Trials », used the Armenian case as a striking example of crimes committed by a State against its own citizens. The report also noted that while the Paris peace treaties with Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria made no reference to the « laws of humanity, » but based the accusation on violations of the « laws and customs of war, » the Sèvres peace treaty with Turkey did. In addition, the definition of the Rome Statute provides the most comprehensive list of specific crimes that may constitute crimes against humanity to date. Side note: Reprisals against witnesses – outside Canada On 30 July 2013, the United Nations International Law Commission voted to include crimes against humanity in its long-term programme of work. In July 2014, the Commission included this issue in its active work programme[31][32], which is largely based on a report by Sean D.

Murphy. [33] Professor Sean D. Murphy, a member of the United States International Law Commission, was appointed Special Rapporteur on crimes against humanity. Sean D. Murphy attended the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative Expert Meeting in 2008. Since its founding in 1948, the United Nations has been primarily responsible for prosecuting crimes against humanity. [34] The legal definition of crimes against humanity as it is understood today is found in the ICC Statute. A crime against humanity is one of the acts listed below when committed « as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack »: murder; Extermination; Enslavement; Deportation; persecution on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender or other grounds; Apartheid; arbitrary detention; Torture; rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence; enforced disappearances of persons; or other inhumane acts that intentionally cause great suffering or serious harm to body or mental or physical health.

(ii) the person was a citizen of, or was employed in a civilian or military capacity by, a state involved in an armed conflict against Canada; (3) Notwithstanding the definition of evidence in section 118 of the Criminal Code, evidence for the purposes of this section does not include evidence that is not substantial. After Nuremberg, there was no international tribunal for crimes against humanity for almost 50 years. However, work continued on the definition of crimes against humanity at the United Nations. In 1947, the International Law Commission was mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to formulate the principles of international law recognized and reaffirmed in the Nuremberg Statute and Judgement and to elaborate a « Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind ». The draft law, completed in 1996, defines crimes against humanity as various inhumane acts, namely « murder, extermination, torture, enslavement, persecution on political, racial, religious or ethnic grounds, institutionalized discrimination, arbitrary deportation or forced displacement of the population, arbitrary detention, rape, forced prostitution and other inhumane acts committed systematically or on a large scale. committed and instigated or directed by a government or other government. Organization or group. This definition differs from the Nuremberg definition, where crimes were allegedly committed « before or during the war », and thus establishes a link between crimes against humanity and armed conflict. [35] On 24. In May 1915, the Allied Powers, Britain, France and Russia, jointly issued a declaration in which, for the first time, they explicitly accused another government of having committed « a crime against humanity. » .