Distinguishing between crimes

Question 1

intl crimes entail crim responsbility of

Answer 1

individuals (noting that all violations by state agents entail state responsibiltiy - note that states aren’t criminally responsible tho!)

Question 2

International humanitarian law encompasses

Answer 2

war crimes which encompass grave breaches

Question 3

2 elements of a war crime

Answer 3

(1) violation of IHL rule (can be customary or treaty rule)
(2) violation is serious (important + grave consequences for victim)
–> violation entails crim responsibility of individual under treaty/customary law

Question 4

Grave breach =

Answer 4

specific war crime committed in armed conflict and specified in provisions of the 4 Geneva Conventions + their additional protocols

Question 5

Genocide (Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948, Art II)

Answer 5

specified acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part a national ethnical, racial or religious group

Question 6

Crimes against humanity (first prosecuted in IMT Nuremberg) - Art 2, Art 7 Rome Statute of the ICC

Answer 6

specified acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack

KEY THING IS IT’S WIDESPREAD (Scale) + SYSTEMATIC (organised manner)

Question 7

Crime of aggression

Answer 7

Use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the UN

A LEADERSHIP CRIME (an atrocity committed as a consequence of a war of aggression)- always unjustified