Crimes against humanity under communist regimes

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Crimes against humanity under communist regimes occurred during the 20th century, and they included forced deportations, massacres, torture, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, political terrorization campaigns,^[1] ethnic cleansing, and enslavement, as well as the deliberate starvation of people (during the Holodomor, the Great Leap Forward and the North Korean famine). Additional events included the commition of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide. Such events have been described as crimes against humanity.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The 2008 Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism stated that crimes which were committed in the name of communism should be assessed as crimes against humanity. The government of Cambodia has prosecuted former members of the Khmer Rouge^[5] and the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have passed laws that have led to the prosecution of several perpetrators for their crimes against the Baltic peoples. They were tried for crimes which they committed during the occupation of the Baltic states in 1940 and 1941 as well as for crimes which they committed during the Soviet reoccupation of those states which occurred after World War II.^[6]

^ Kemp-Welch, p. 42.
^ Rosefielde, p. 6.
^ Karlsson, p. 5.
^ "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Approved and proposed for signature and ratification or accession by General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December 1948 Entry into force: 12 January 1951, in accordance with article XIII" (PDF). United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.
^ Mydans, Seth (10 April 2017). "11 Years, $300 Million and 3 Convictions. Was the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Worth It?". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
^ Naimark p. 25.