War crimes are serious violations of international humanitarian law – the set of rules that constrains excessive violence and harm during armed conflict. They are defined by the 1949 Geneva Conventions and an older area of legal practice referred to as the “laws of war” or “laws of armed conflict.” They can be committed by individual offenders, military commanders, or by nation-states acting in violation of their obligations under international law. Individuals can be brought to justice through domestic criminal courts, the ICC in The Hague, and through special international military tribunals such as those that followed World War II at Nuremberg or the conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
The ICC defines war crimes as actions that constitute “grave breaches” of the laws of war, including the principles contained in the four 1949 Geneva Conventions. These include the protection of wounded and sick members of armed forces on the ground and at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians. It also requires parties to a conflict to distinguish between civilians and combatants, direct their operations only against military targets, and refrain from cruel treatment of prisoners of war.
Crimes against humanity are defined more broadly, and can be directed against any group of civilian population. The ICC is the only permanent body that prosecutes crimes against humanity, though some states have created domestic criminal courts to deal with these charges. Like genocide, crimes against humanity require a mental element of intent to physically destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such.
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