Atrocity crime

An atrocity crime is a violation of international criminal law that falls under the historically three legally defined international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.^[1] Ethnic cleansing is widely regarded as a fourth mass atrocity crime by legal scholars and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the field, despite not yet being recognized as an independent crime under international law.^[2]

Crimes of aggression are considered by some to be mass atrocity crimes and they are included in the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. However, most legal scholars do not consider them to be mass atrocity crimes.^[3] While it is certainly a grave violation of international law and frequently the context in which mass atrocity crimes are committed, the crime of aggression is distinguishable because it is an attack on the territory, sovereignty, or political independence of a state rather than on individuals.^[4]

The primary international laws defining mass atrocity crimes are the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,^[5] the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols, and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court, ad hoc international criminal tribunals, and the International Court of Justice further define and enforce these laws.

^ "Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes: A Tool for Prevention" (PDF). United Nations Office of the Prevention of Genocide. 2014.
^ Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Background Briefing: Defining the Four Mass Atrocity Crimes, Publications (Aug. 15, 2018), http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/688 Archived 2019-12-01 at the Wayback Machine; Global Action against Mass Atrocity Crimes, Prevention of Atrocities, About GAAMAC, https://www.gaamac.org/web-pages/view/16
^ See, generally, Press Release, International Criminal Court, Assembly activates Court’s jurisdiction over crime of aggression (Dec. 15, 2017), available at https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1350.
^ See, Coalition for the International Criminal Court, The Crime of Aggression, ICC Crimes (2018), http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/explore/icc-crimes/crime-aggression.
^ "The Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" (PDF). Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1948.

[prevention-1] "Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes: A Tool for Prevention" (PDF). United Nations Office of the Prevention of Genocide. 2014.

[:5-2] Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Background Briefing: Defining the Four Mass Atrocity Crimes, Publications (Aug. 15, 2018), http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/688 Archived 2019-12-01 at the Wayback Machine; Global Action against Mass Atrocity Crimes, Prevention of Atrocities, About GAAMAC, https://www.gaamac.org/web-pages/view/16

[3] See, generally, Press Release, International Criminal Court, Assembly activates Court’s jurisdiction over crime of aggression (Dec. 15, 2017), available at https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1350.

[4] See, Coalition for the International Criminal Court, The Crime of Aggression, ICC Crimes (2018), http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/explore/icc-crimes/crime-aggression.

[convention-5] "The Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" (PDF). Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1948.

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