War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave
labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of
prisoners of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity".
[ Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panné, Jean-Louis Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, Stéphane Courtois, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard University Press, 1999, hardcover, 858 pages, ISBN 0-674-07608-7, page 5. ]Similar concepts, such as
perfidy, have existed for many centuries as customary law between civilized countries. Many of these customary laws were clarified in the
Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. The modern concept of war crime was further developed under the auspices of the
Nuremberg Trials based on the definition in the
London Charter that was published on August 8, 1945. (Also see
Nuremberg Principles.) Along with war crimes the charter also defined
crimes against peace and
crimes against humanity, which are often committed during wars and in concert with war crimes.
Article 22 of the Hague IV ("Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907") states that "The right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited" and over the last century many other treaties have introduced positive laws that place constraints on belligerents (see
International treaties on the laws of war). Some of the provisions, such as those in the Hague conventions, are considered to be part of customary international law, and are binding on all. Others are only binding on individuals if the belligerent power to which they belong is a party to the treaty which introduced the constraint.
Definition
Colloquial definitions of
war crime include violations of established protections of the
laws of war, but also include failures to adhere to norms of procedure and rules of
battle, such as attacking those displaying a
flag of truce, or using that same flag as a
ruse of war to mount an attack. Attacking enemy troops while they are being deployed by way of a parachute is not a war crime. However, Protocol I, Article 42 of the
Geneva Conventions explicitly forbids attacking parachutists who eject from damaged airplanes, and surrendering parachutists once landed. War crimes include such acts as mistreatment of
prisoners of war or civilians. War crimes are sometimes part of instances of
mass murder and
genocide though these crimes are more broadly covered under
international humanitarian law described as
crimes against humanity.
War crimes are significant in international
humanitarian law because it is an area where international tribunals such as the
Nuremberg Trials and
Tokyo trials have been convened. Recent examples are the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which were established by the
UN Security Council acting under Chapter VIII of the
UN Charter.
Under the
Nuremberg Principles,
war crimes are different from
crimes against peace which is planning, preparing, initiating, or waging a
war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances.
History
Early example
The trial of
Peter von Hagenbach by an ad hoc tribunal of the
Holy Roman Empire in 1474, was the first “international” war crimes trial, and also of
command responsibility. He was convicted and beheaded for crimes that "he as a knight was deemed to have a duty to prevent", although he had argued that he was only "following orders".
Hague Conventions
The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at
The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the First and Second Geneva Conventions (1864 and 1909), among the first formal statements of the
laws of war and
war crimes in the nascent body of secular
international law.
Geneva Conventions
The
Geneva Conventions are four related treaties adopted between 1864 and 1949 that represent a legal basis for International Law with regard to conduct of warfare. Not all nations are signatories to the GC, and as such retain different codes and values with regard to wartime conduct. Some signatories have routinely violated the Geneva Conventions in a way which either uses the ambiguities of law or political maneuvering to sidestep the laws' formalities and principles.
Leipzig War Crimes Trial
Several German military commanders of the
First World War were tried in 1921 by the German Supreme Court for war crimes.
London Charter / Nuremburg Trials 1945
The modern concept of war crime was further developed under the auspices of the
Nuremberg Trials based on the definition in the
London Charter that was published on August 8, 1945. (Also see
Nuremberg Principles.) Along with war crimes the charter also defined
crimes against peace and
crimes against humanity, which are often committed during wars and in concert with war crimes.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East 1946
Also known as the Tokyo Trial, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or simply as the Tribunal, it was convened on May 3, 1946 to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" (crimes against peace), "Class B" (war crimes), and "Class C" (crimes against humanity), committed during World War II.
International Criminal Court 2002
On
July 1,
2002, the
International Criminal Court, a treaty-based court located in
The Hague, came into being for the prosecution of war crimes committed on or after that date. However, several nations, most notably the
United States,
China, and
Israel, have criticized the court and refuse to participate in it or to permit the court to have jurisdiction over their citizens. Note, however, that a citizen of one of the 'objector nations' could still appear before the Court if they were accused of committing war crimes in a country that was a state party, regardless of the fact that their country of origin was not a signatory.
However the court only has jurisdiction over these crimes where they are "
part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes".
Prominent indictees
Heads of state & government
To date, the present and former
heads of state and
heads of government that have been charged with war crimes include:
- Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević was brought to trial for alleged war crimes, but died as essentially an innocent man in custody on March 11, 2006 under suspicious circumstances and after mounting a vigorous defense, before the trial could be concluded after more than 4 years of proceedings.
- Former Liberian President Charles G. Taylor was also brought to the Hague charged with war crimes; his trial was provisionally scheduled to begin in April 2007, but was postponed until June 2007 to allow the defense more time to prepare, and is now ongoing.
- Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadžić was arrested in Belgrade on 18 July, 2008 and brought before Belgrade’s War Crimes Court a few days after. He was extradited to the Netherlands, and is currently in The Hague, in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has not yet entered a plea; his next appearance was on 29 August 2008.
Other prominent indictees :
- Ratko Mladić (usually referred to as "General Mladić") has been indicted for genocide during the Bosnian War; he has not been caught and awaits capture for multiple war crimes against Bosnian Muslims.
Punishment
The punishment for committing war crimes was
capital punishment, but in many cases, war criminals were sent to national prisons to live out the rest of their lives. At the modern international tribunals, capital punishment is banned, and conviction results in a sentence for a term of years. The convicted person serves his or her sentence in a national prison system, whose country has agreed with the tribunal to effect execution of sentence.
Ambiguity of the term
A memorial at cemetery Heidefriedhof in Dresden. It reads: "Wieviele starben? Wer kennt die Zahl?/An deinen Wunden sieht man die Qual/der Namenlosen die hier verbrannt/im Hoellenfeuer aus Menschenhand." ("How many died? Who knows the number/ In your wounds one can see the agony/ of the nameless ones, who burned to death here/ in a hellfire made by human hand.")
Because the definition of a state of "war" may be debated, the term "war crime" itself has seen different usage under different systems of international and military law. It has some degree of application outside of what some may consider to be a state of "war," but in areas where conflicts persist enough to constitute social instability.
The legalities of war have sometimes been accused of containing favoritism toward the winners ("
Victor's justice"), as certain controversies have not been ruled as war crimes. Some examples include the Allies' destruction of civilian Axis targets during
World War I and
World War II (the
firebombing of the German city of
Dresden is one such example), the use of atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in
World War II; the use of
Agent Orange against civilian targets in the
Vietnam war; the mass killing of Biharies by Kader Siddique and Mukti Bahini before or after victory of
Bangladesh Liberation War in Bangladesh between 1971 and 1972; and the
Indonesian occupation of
East Timor between 1976 and 1999.
Another example is the Allied re-designation of German
POWs (under the protection of the Geneva conventions) into
Disarmed Enemy Forces (allegedly unprotected by the Geneva conventions), many of which then were used for
forced labor such as clearing minefields. By December 1945 it was estimated by French authorities that 2,000 German prisoners were being killed or maimed each month in mine-clearing accidents.
In areas where International Law is yet unresolved, some ambiguity remains with regard to which crimes are considered as such and which are not.
See also
Country listings
Legal issues
Miscellaneous
