Crimes against humanity

Definition of crimes against humanity

1. ‘Crime against humanity’ means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
2. Murder;
3. Extermination;
4. Enslavement;
5. Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
6. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
7. Torture;
8. Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
9. Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, medical, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender or other grounds that are universally recognised as impermissible;
10. Enforced disappearance of persons;
11. The crime of apartheid;
12. Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.
13. For the purpose of paragraph 1:
14. ‘Attack directed against any civilian population’ means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organisational policy to commit such attack;

Elements of crimes against humanity

Crimes against humanity do not need to be linked to armed conflict and can also occur in peacetime, similar to the crime of genocide. The definition of crimes against humanity contains the following main elements:

1. A physical element, which includes the commission of “any of the following acts”:
2. Murder;
3. Extermination;
4. Enslavement;
5. Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
6. Imprisonment;
7. Torture;
8. Grave forms of sexual violence;
9. Persecution;
10. Enforced disappearance of persons;
11. The crime of apartheid;
12. Other inhumane acts.
13. A contextual element: “when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population”; and
14. A mental element: “with knowledge of the attack”