War crimes

War crimes violate the rules of warfare. These rules are called standards of International Humanitarian Law and are aimed to provide protection to particular persons and/or objects and to safeguard recognized international values. The most important rules are laid down in the so-called Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols. But also standards of customary international humanitarian law do apply.

War crimes can be committed in international and in non-international armed conflicts, albeit that the list of possible war crimes varies accordingly. The most serious violations of the rules of warfare are called grave breaches. States are obliged to prosecute perpetrators, regardless of their nationality. They therefore use universal jurisdiction.

Article 8 of the Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court provides four lists of war crimes, divided amongst the following categories:

1. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, acts against protected persons or property;
2. Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict;
3. In the case of an armed conflict not of an international character, serious violations of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions
4. Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of an international character

Rule of thumb

When either of the following criteria is not met, you may consider that a war crime is at hand:

• during the act due attention was paid to preseving human dignity and properties;
• distinction was made between those not -or no longer- engaging in the armed conflict and those that were engaged in the armed conflict
• the methods and means used during the conflict were proportionate when assessed against the military objectives
• there was no alternative for the act that might have led to mitigating the consequences