Murder, rape, torture, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and sexual violence are all war crimes. They are the gravest human rights violations and can be committed against both combatants and non-combatants, both during and after armed conflicts. They engage not only State responsibility but also individual criminal responsibility, making them different from other human rights violations.
War crimes are a subset of international humanitarian law, which is comprised of principles and international treaties that limit the means and extent of violence permitted in armed conflicts between states and other non-state actors. These rules, which are based on the core dignity of human beings and their right to life, also ensure that civilian populations are not harmed or destroyed by military operations.
These laws, which are based on the Nuremberg Principles and the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols, include the prohibition against the killing of wounded or sick soldiers at sea or on land, a ban on medical experiments on prisoners of war, and a requirement that all parties in armed conflicts distinguish between civilians and fighters to direct attacks only on military targets. They also prohibit the conscription or enlistment of children in armed forces or groups and the unlawful deportation transfer or confinement of protected persons.
Genocide – the intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – is a war crime. It is one of the four crimes against humanity and is defined in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, which was drafted by the Jewish-Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin after the Holocaust.