Crimes against humanity

Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against <a href="/facts/Civilian/ApBkSzGP">civilians</a>. Unlike <a href="/facts/War_crimes/36qQAugC">war crimes</a>, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as foreign nationals. Together with <a href="/facts/War_crimes/36qQAugC">war crimes</a>, <a href="/facts/Genocide/IjkNvg7y">genocide</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Crime_of_aggression/Q9MVUWP1">crime of aggression</a>, crimes against humanity are one of the core crimes of <a href="/facts/International_criminal_law/7MRrkk7m">international criminal law</a> and, like other crimes against international law, <a href="/facts/Convention_on_the_Non-Applicability_of_Statutory_Limitations_to_War_Crimes_and_Crimes_Against_Humanity/vTg6GNbb">have no temporal</a> or jurisdictional limitations on prosecution (where <a href="/facts/Universal_jurisdiction/I3fGxy8p">universal jurisdiction</a> is recognized).
The first prosecution for crimes against humanity took place during the <a href="/facts/Nuremberg_trials/Xk8q1YzG">Nuremberg trials</a> against defeated leaders of <a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a>. Crimes against humanity have been prosecuted by other international courts (such as the <a href="/facts/International_Criminal_Tribunal_for_the_former_Yugoslavia/n0cQyk8p">International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia</a>, the <a href="/facts/International_Criminal_Tribunal_for_Rwanda/1LaIJT3D">International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda</a>, the <a href="/facts/Special_Court_for_Sierra_Leone/188ARqb3">Special Court for Sierra Leone</a>, the <a href="/facts/Khmer_Rouge_Tribunal/mlD60hrN">Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia</a>, and the <a href="/facts/International_Criminal_Court/z0VwbKkz">International Criminal Court</a>) as well as by domestic courts. The law of crimes against humanity has primarily been developed as a result of the evolution of <a href="/facts/Customary_international_law/9VzEfGem">customary international law</a>. Crimes against humanity are not codified in an international convention, so an international effort to establish such a treaty, led by the <a href="/facts/Crimes_Against_Humanity_Initiative/qszsSLD2">Crimes Against Humanity Initiative</a>, has been underway since 2008.
According to the <a href="/facts/Rome_Statute/7DIxjny1">Rome Statute</a>, there are eleven types of crimes that can be charged as a crime against humanity when "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any <a href="/facts/Civilian/ApBkSzGP">civilian</a> population": "murder; <a href="/facts/Extermination_(crime)/8G1Krwxc">extermination</a>; <a href="/facts/Enslavement/IXX2S92u">enslavement</a>; <a href="/facts/Deportation/lfWFhQTW">deportation</a> or <a href="/facts/Forcible_transfer_of_population/JTSYub3c">forcible transfer of population</a>; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; <a href="/facts/Torture/oTCUxY3x">torture</a>; rape, <a href="/facts/Sexual_slavery/fHWrxYYv">sexual slavery</a>, <a href="/facts/Enforced_prostitution/dHa5PKrC">enforced prostitution</a>, <a href="/facts/Forced_pregnancy/GukIemPN">forced pregnancy</a>, <a href="/facts/Forced_abortion/IKVaKKFl">forced abortion</a>, <a href="/facts/Enforced_sterilization/3nxJMvV4">enforced sterilization</a>, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; <a href="/facts/Persecution/lTM5uvsM">persecution</a> against any identifiable group or collectivity...; <a href="/facts/Enforced_disappearance/9hKI94ns">enforced disappearance</a>...; the <a href="/facts/Crime_of_apartheid/4cly04GL">crime of apartheid</a>; other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health."

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Crimes against humanity