Mass atrocities are characterised by the large scale loss of civilian life through conflict, massacre, 'ethnic cleansing' and persecution. In legal terms mass atrocities include genocide, crimes against humanity and large scale war crimes; the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) uses the folloing definitions:
- a "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: murder, extermination; enslavement; deportation or forcible transfer of population; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; torture; rape, sexual slavery, ....
- the ICC also is interested in war crimes, such as murder, torture and attacking civilians, "in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes."
- Genocide, sometimes called the 'crime of crimes', is characterised by acts, such as murder, performed with the intent to destroy a group, in whole or in part.
Read more...What are crimes against humanity?
