WHAT CONSTITUTES A WAR CRIME
- March 4, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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WHAT CONSTITUTES A WAR CRIME
TOPIC: Defence & Security
Context- Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, its troops have increasingly hit civilian sites with airstrikes and artillery, raising concerns that war crimes are being committed.
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced that it would open an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Concept-
Laws of war:
- The definition of War Crimes is established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is derived from the 1949 Geneva Conventions and is based on the idea that individuals can be held liable for the actions of a state or its military.
- War crimes are defined as serious violations of humanitarian laws during a conflict.
- There are specific international standards for war crimes, which are not to be confused with crimes against humanity.
- The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect separates war crimes from genocide and crimes against humanity defines
- War crimes as occurring in a domestic conflict or a war between two states,
- while genocide and crimes against humanity can happen in peacetime or during the unilateral aggression of a military towards a group of unarmed people.
- Acts that can be considered war crimes include:
- The taking of hostages, willful killings, torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war, and forcing children to fight etc.
- But, in practice, there is a lot of gray area within that list.
Distinction, proportionality, precaution:
- To decide whether an individual or a military has committed a war crime, international humanitarian law lays down three principles: distinction, proportionality and precaution.
- Proportionality prohibits armies from responding to an attack with excessive violence.
- If a soldier is killed, for example, you cannot bomb an entire city in retaliation.
- Precaution requires parties to a conflict to avoid or minimize the harm done to the civilian population.
- the principle of distinction says that you have to be constantly trying to distinguish between civilian and belligerent populations and objects.
- For example, attacking a barrack where there are people who have said they no longer participate in the conflict can be a war crime.
About International Criminal Court:
- The ICC is the world’s first permanent international criminal court.
- It is governed by the International Treaty Called“ The Rome Statute”.
- It investigates and tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community. ICC aims to hold those responsible for their crimes and to help prevent these crimes from happening again.
- India is not a party to Rome Statute along with US and China.
- The Rome Statute, grants the ICC jurisdiction over four main crimes:
- The crime of Genocide
- Crimes against Humanity
- War crimes
- Crime of Aggression
- ICC is not a UN organization but is has a cooperation agreement with the United Nations.