The Rome Statute

The Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court (ICC) with jurisdiction to prosecute those who commit:

• Crime of genocide: in accordance with the Convention on the Crime of Genocide: intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group through certain acts (murders, serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births, forcible transfer of children).
• Crimes against humanity: acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual violence, persecution on political, racial, religious grounds, enforced disappearances, apartheid.
• War crimes: grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
• Crime of aggression: the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, in manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.

The ICC intervenes when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute the perpetrators themselves.

The United States, Russia, China, India, Israel, and other States – although signatories to the Geneva Conventions – do not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

It defines the crime of genocide...

Genocide means the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, by any of the following acts:

• Killing members of the group.
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

…and crimes related to genocide

The following are punishable, in addition to genocide itself:

• Conspiracy to commit genocide.
• Direct and public incitement to commit genocide.
• Attempt to commit genocide.
• Complicity in genocide.

It defines the obligations of States in the prevention and suppression of the crime of genocide

States Parties to the Convention have the following duties:

• Prevent genocide: act before the crime is committed, including through diplomatic, economic, or military measures.
• Punish genocide: arrest, extradite, and prosecute alleged perpetrators.

The Geneva Conventions

The four Geneva Conventions aim to protect persons who are not, or are no longer, participating in hostilities (civilians, wounded, prisoners of war).

Convention I protects wounded or sick soldiers on the battlefield. It provides for:

• The obligation to gather, care for, and protect the wounded and sick without discrimination.
• Respect for military hospitals, ambulances, and medical personnel bearing the emblem of the Red Cross or Red Crescent.

Convention II pursues the same objectives as Convention I, but at sea. It provides for:

• The obligation to rescue shipwrecked persons.
• Respect for hospital ships bearing the emblem of the Red Cross or Red Crescent.

Convention III protects prisoners of war against ill-treatment. It provides for:

• The obligation to treat prisoners humanely.
• The prohibition of physical or moral torture, reprisals, and medical experiments.
• The right to correspondence with families and assistance from the ICRC.
• The obligation to provide food, lodging, and care.

Convention IV protects civilians in times of war. It provides for:

• The prohibition of forced deportations, hostage-taking, and collective punishments.
• The obligation to provide food, medical care, and protection.
• Special protection for children, pregnant women, and the elderly.
• Access to the ICRC and humanitarian organizations.
• The occupying power is prohibited from transferring its own population there.