PILPG's Guide to Transitional Justice for Civil Society - Ukraine

Core International Crimes

A Q&A session on this section was held on 30 September, 2021, with Dr. Professor Yvonne Dutton and Dr. Professor Margaret deGuzman. A recording of the session is available in this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/Vdilnb2oIDcbeX58fmI0sPpG-mqE5ZwOeJEicK-YYAux48ZCn11p-vKd7PrTuw8.h2wMzI9ESYhi9Ufl

Introduction to the core International crimes

To be able to grasp all the aspects of transitional justice, it is of critical importance to first understand what crimes may have been committed during the conflict and how to best address them. This segment gives a brief insight into the definition and elements of international core crimes.

Crimes against humanity

The crime against humanity, along with the other crimes listed below, is one of the four core international crimes. Before prosecuting a crime against humanity, the acts have to correspond to a number of elements. This segment provides an overview of the definition and the elements of crimes against humanity and discusses some of the key controversies surrounding this crime.

Genocide

Genocide is another atrocity crime, which is considered to be one of the gravest international crimes. This segment provides an overview of the definition and elements of the crime of genocide, and discusses some of the controversies that can be found in international jurisprudence.

War Crimes

To prosecute war crimes, certain conditions have to be met that would qualify the crime as a war crime. This segment introduces the conditions that qualify a crime as a war crime in international law and distinguishes war crimes from other international core crimes.

Crime of aggression

To categorize an act as a crime of aggression, the act has to take place in a certain context. This segment introduces the definition and the history of the crime of aggression and discuss the crime of aggression as one of the core crimes of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.