Ch.III War Crimes

Subject(s):

War crimes — Armed conflict — Ius ad bellum — Ius in bello

This chapter examines the concept of war crime that may be understood in both a broad and a narrow sense. In a broad sense, it encompasses all criminal acts committed in a war or an armed conflict, notwithstanding their character as war crimes in a narrow sense or other international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity. It deals with war crimes stricto sensu, specifically the ones codified in Article 8 of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute. The chapter talks about the crimes of armed conflict that belong to the ‘ius in bello’ and must be distinguished from punishable acts based on violations of the ‘ius ad bellum’, which may amount to a crime of aggression to be dealt with in Chapter 4.