Chapter 4: The ICC‟s contribution to war crimes trials in the DRC
4.3 The jurisdiction of the ICC
4.3.6 Jurisdiction ratione materiae
4.3.6.3 War crimes
Since this dissertation focuses on the fight against impunity for war crimes perpetrated in the DRC, those crimes are considered in-depth. This section begins with notions related to the term and its definition as provided for in the Rome Statute.
4.3.6.3.1 Notion
The first pre-condition for the perpetration of war crimes is the existence of armed conflict. Armed conflict is defined in Chapter 2 above.
War crimes are amongst the oldest offence in the history of humankind, so that
“throughout history, and in common parlance, the term „war crime‟ has a number of meanings”.400 The prosecution of those responsible for war crimes has been organized in domestic law for a long time.401 Indeed the first prosecution organized in international law was related to war crimes committed during World War One by German soldiers. They were convicted for “acts in violation of laws and customs of war” at Leipzig in the early 1920s, pursuant to arts 228 and 230 of the Treaty of Versailles.402
These prosecutions were largely inspired by the 1907 Hague Convention, which was not really suitable for the prosecution of individuals. However since the codification of war crimes in the Nuremberg Charter of 1945, and in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional Protocols of 1977, there has been important progress. The concept of war has also refined in different Statutes of the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals of Yugoslavia and Rwanda. More recently, the notion has been considered in the Rome Statute, which refined the concept.
400 P Rowe „War crimes‟ in D McGoldrick, P J Rowe & E Donelly (eds) Permanent International Criminal Court: legal and policy issues (2004) 203; W A Schabas (note 296 above; 51).
401 T Meron War crimes law comes of age: essays (1998) 1; W A Schabas (note 296 above; 51); M Du Plessis (note 297 above; 174, 185).
402 M Du Plessis (note 297 above; 186); W A Schabas (note 296 above; 52).
4.3.6.3.2 Definition of war crimes in the Rome Statute
The definition403 of war crimes in the Rome Statute is very broad. It distinguishes between two kinds of armed conflict and two types of norms related to the conventions and customs applicable to these conflicts.
As provided in the Rome Statute, in order to be prosecuted, war crimes must reach a certain threshold in accordance with article 8 (1), which requires that the crime must have been “committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes”. Moreover as provided in article 30 (1) of the Rome Statute the mental element is required. Those responsible for such acts must have intent and knowledge when performing them.
In terms of the conventional norms applicable to armed conflict of an international character, war crimes are defined in the Rome Statue as grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. Among specific acts which can be considered as war crimes during such armed conflict are: 1) Willful killing; 2) Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments; 3) Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health; 4) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
5) Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power; 6) Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial; 7) Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; and 8) Taking of hostages. The act must have been committed against persons or property protected under the Conventions.404
403 According to P Rowe in general war crimes can be considered as “any breach of international law during an armed conflict either between (or among) States or within a state. It can therefore include genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocol I, 1977, breach of the common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions, 1949 and breaches of the laws or customs of war (whether incorporated into the Rome Statute 1998 of the International Criminal court or not)”. See P Rowe (note 203above). Read also commentary by K D rmann, L Doswald-Beck
& R Kolb Elements of War Crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court:
Sources and Commentary (2004) passim.
404 Article 8 (2) (a) of the Rome Statute.
Regarding the second type of norms related to laws and customs in respect of international warfare the commission of any of the following acts may be considered as war crimes;405 9) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; 10) Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives; 11) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping missions in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict; 12) Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated; 13) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives; 14) Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or no longer having means of defence, has surrendered at discretion; 15) Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, resulting in death or serious personal injury; 16) The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory; 17) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives; 18) Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons;19) Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;
20) Declaring that no quarter will be given; 21) Destroying or seizing the enemy's
405 Article 8 (b) those laws customs must be within the „established framework of international law‟.
property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war; 22) Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party; 23) Compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war; 24) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; 25) Employing poison or poisoned weapons; 26) Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices; 27) Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions; 29) Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict, provided that such weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare are the subject of a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an annex to this Statute, by an amendment in accordance with the relevant provisions set forth in articles 121 and 123; 30) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment; 31) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions‟
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; 32) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations; 33) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law; 34) Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions; and 35) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities.
Protection extended by the Convention is not limited to the civilian population but is extended to “personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of
the United Nations”.406 Some types of war weapons are prohibited even though others (such as nuclear weapons) have not been comprehensively regulated. In this provision women and children are provided with particular protection, respectively against violence and abuse during warfare.407
In terms of the conventional norms, regarding internal armed conflict, war crimes are considered as gross violations in terms of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949.
Thus according to article 8 (2) (c) of the Rome Statute, the commission of one of the following acts may constitute war crimes: 1) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; 2) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment; 3) Taking of hostages; 4) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable.
However to be regarded as war crimes, the victim of such acts must have not been actively involved in warfare. He/she may be a civilian or even a soldier who had abandoned the war or cannot fight due to several objective reasons.408
Regarding the norms related to laws and customs applicable in internal armed conflict, the perpetration of any of the following acts is considered as war crimes in conformity with article 8 (2) (e) of the Rome Statute: 1) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; 2) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law; 3) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping missions in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or
406 Article 8 (b) (iii) of the Rome Statute.
407 Article 8 (b) (xxii), Article 8 (b) (xxvi) of the Rome Statute.
408 Article 8 (2) (c) of the Rome Statute.
civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict; 4) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives; 5) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; 6) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2; 7) enforced sterilization, and any other form of sexual violence also constituting a serious violation of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions; 8) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities; 9) Ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand; 10) Killing or wounding treacherously a combatant adversary; 11) Declaring that no quarter will be given; 12) Subjecting persons who are in the power of another party to the conflict to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons; and 13) Destroying or seizing the property of an adversary unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of the conflict.
In general, this definition is a significant codification of different sources of international humanitarian law.409 However, to comply with the principle of legality, such comprehensive detailed definition seems justified. There is important progress as well as weaknesses in the definition of war crimes outlined above. The incorporation of provisions relating to the criminalization of different forms of abuse of children and women during armed conflict is definite progress.410 However, this definition is not perfect, and other acts, including the use of dangerous war weapons such as nuclear, chemical, biological weapons, etc should be criminalized.411 Moreover, the
409 See M Du Plessis 9 (note 297 above; 174, 184).
410 See M Du Plessis 9 (note 297 above; 174, 189).
411 A Cassese „The Statute of the International Criminal Court: some preliminary reflections‟ in O Bekou & R Cryer (eds) The International Criminal Court (2004) 40, 49.
distinction between two kinds of armed conflicts is not adjusted to the current evolution of international law.412