War crimes are serious violations of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). They include murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment or willful causing of great suffering or injury to body or health against combatants in an armed conflict and against civilians. The Rome Statute provides that the ICC may prosecute those who commit war crimes even when the perpetrators’ countries of origin are not parties to the ICC.
Prosecution of those responsible for war crimes sets important precedents in international law and promotes accountability for actions taken during conflict. However, trials can also lead to tensions within societies as victims seek justice and perpetrators resist acknowledging their actions. This complex interplay influences how societies heal and rebuild after conflict.
In the past, states and non-state armed groups rarely punished those who committed war crimes. Attitudes changed during and after World War II, when the murder of several million people – mainly Jews – by Nazi Germany and the mistreatment of prisoners of war and civilians by Japan led to prosecutions in trials such as those held at Nuremberg and Tokyo.
Today, state and non-state armed groups frequently violate the laws of war in their attacks against civilians, resulting in devastating harm. Yet, in an era described as an age of impunity by International Rescue Committee President David Miliband, the vast majority of perpetrators of war crimes are not brought to justice, despite the fact that every state has the responsibility and capacity to protect its populations from four mass atrocity crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
