Crime against humanity

A crime against humanity is a term in international law that refers to acts of murderous persecution against a body of people, as being the criminal offence above all others. The term was first used in the preamble of the Hague Convention of 1907, and subsequently used during the Nuremberg trials as a charge for actions such as the Holocaust which did not violate a specific treaty but were deemed to require severe punishment.

Related Topics:
International law - Murderous - Persecution - Hague Convention - 1907 - Nuremberg trials - The Holocaust

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The term has been criticized for being extremely vague and for being politically defined. For example, Nazi attempts to eliminate certain ethnic groups are widely recognized as having been crimes against humanity, yet Soviet and American persecutions of certain groups are not. The systematic persecution of African people by the South African apartheid government was recognized as a crime against humanity by the United Nations in 1966.

Related Topics:
Nazi - Soviet - African - South African - Apartheid - United Nations

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In its Article 7, the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court in 2003 says:

Related Topics:
International Criminal Court - 2003

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:For the purpose of this Statute, "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: (a) Murder; (b) Extermination; (c) Enslavement; ... http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/icc/statute/part-a.htm#2

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