Crimes against humanity

What are crimes against humanity?

The difference between Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes is that War Crimes deal with breaches of IHL whilst Crimes Against Humanity are systemic or widespread acts directed against civilians which can occur in wartime or peacetime. Article 7 of the Rome Statute (ICC) defines Crimes Against Humanity as:

•    Murder;

•  Extermination which includes actions calculated to bring about destruction such as depriving access to food, fuel and medicine;

•  Enslavement;

• Deportation or forcible transfer of population;

•  Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty;

• Torture;

•  Rape, sexual slavery, enforced sterilization and other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity;

•  Persecution (severe oppression, mistreatment and denial of basic rights such as food, medical care, education and freedom of movement) of a targeted group of people

• Enforced disappearance of persons;

• The crime of apartheid

 The key ingredients to Crime Against Humanity is the systematic and widespread nature of the acts and that the attacks are committed with knowledge. With knowledge means that there are individuals who are aware and who either have ordered the acts to occur or have failed to stop them. Typically, it may be difficult to attribute direct knowledge to high ranking officials who are usually targets of ICC arrest warrants but Israel is an exception.

For example, in the very beginning of the war, Yoav Gallant, former Israeli minister of Defense, stated that Gaza would be put under siege with no water, no food, no fuel entering the strip calling Palestinians “human animals”. This policy of starvation is still evident in Israel’s policy as insufficient aid is entering the Gaza Strip which, in our view, is evidence that Israel is committing the act of extermination and persecution. The extent to which civilian death is acceptable within Israel’s military instructions is further evidence that Israel may be guilty of Murder as a Crime Against Humanity. Throughout the last year there is evidence of Israeli snipers shooting Palestinians in the stomach, waiting for aid to arrive and then sniping those as well. Whilst this can be considered a War Crime, it can also be considered Murder under Crimes Against Humanity.

Furthermore, since October 7 2023, there has been an alarming increase in Palestinians held in detention centers. Those Palestinians have reported of the miserable conditions within Israeli prisons and make shift detention centers. The mildest of these testimonies state that basic needs such as food, warmth and hygiene and freedom of religion are systematically denied Palestinian prisoners and guards often subject prisoners to harassment and beatings. The most severe of these testimonies state that Palestinian detainees are forced to kneel for the bulk of the day, that they are subjected to electrical shock, dogs, sexual abuse including rape and various forms of torture. Some Palestinian detainees have testified that their beatings were live streamed by soldiers and that on other occasions civilians were brought in to witness and take part of the abuse. There is evidence linking policies and statements made by Itamar Ben Gvir regarding the treatment of the detainees and the high level of similarities amongst all detention centers to find that this is a deliberate policy choice which has filtered into military orders. Again though these can be considered War Crimes, they can also fall under torture, persecution and enforced disappearance under Crimes Against Humanity.