Crimes Against Humanity

Smoke billows in the distance in Khartoum

The Imminent Risk of Genocide in Darfur: Never Again Cannot Become a Relic of the Past

The international community failed 20 years ago to stop mass atrocities and genocide in Darfur, and is now failing again.

Dec. 7, 2023 Mutasim Ali and Yonah Diamond

Pictures of victims of the Noval music festival stand at the site of the October 7th massacre

A Plea to the International Law Community: On De-Humanizing and the October 7th Atrocities

A plea for the equal application of international law to protect against atrocities in the Israel-Hamas War.

Dec. 4, 2023 Yahli Shereshevsky

People displaced by conflict and living at a United Nations Protection of Civilians (POC) site mingle among shelters in Wau on February 1, 2020. 13,000 civilians were sheltering at the site, adjacent to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) field office, just outside Wau town. The people had fled massacres and burning villages during a ruinous six-year conflict between forces loyal to the government of South Sudan President Salva Kiir and those of his political rival, former Vice President, Riek Machar. A string of failed truces and hollow promises had spawned distrust in the two rival leaders. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

Invest in Early Prevention and Continuous Learning to Help Curb Atrocities in a Challenging Era

To reinvigorate US leadership, consider why US action on the 2008 Albright-Cohen blueprint has not translated into more success.

Nov. 29, 2023 Lawrence Woocher

The Hague's Binnenhof with the Hofvijver lake at dusk, Den Haag, Netherlands

Syrian Regime Crimes on Trial in The Netherlands

Charges against a Syrian man accused of committing atrocity crimes could set important legal precedents for future cases in the Netherlands.

Nov. 22, 2023 Fritz Streiff and Hope Rikkelman

Women in indigenous Guatemalan dresses crossing street holding protest signs, crosswalk in foreground.

Strengthening Reproductive Autonomy in the Draft Crimes Against Humanity Treaty

In the draft crimes against humanity treaty, States have a historic opportunity to strengthen protections for reproductive autonomy within the framework of international law.

Nov. 22, 2023 Akila Radhakrishnan, Ashita Alag and 2 more

Large brick building with many windows with red coverings.

Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Unappreciated Necessity of Contempt Proceedings in International Criminal Accountability

The contempt cases may assist the Special Prosecutor's Office and the judges of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in carrying out their mandates and building the judicial record.

Nov. 21, 2023 Rogier Bartels

A charred block of word with the words "ONE OBLIVION ONE WOUND" in multiple languages, set on a stone brick floor

Time to Enumerate the Slave Trade as a Distinct Provision in the Crimes Against Humanity Treaty

While the Draft Articles include a provision for enslavement, the slave trade and enslavement are distinct international crimes that should be enumerated as crimes against humanity.

Nov. 15, 2023 Patricia Viseur Sellers, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum and 1 more

Refugees shelter under tarpaulins along a stream as the monsoon rains create massive challenges for the displaced Rohingya September 17, 2017 in Kutupalong, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. More than 400,000 Rohingya refugees fled into Bangladesh from late August that year during the outbreak of violence in Rakhine state. Satellite images released by Amnesty International at the time provided evidence that security forces were trying to push the minority Muslim group out of the country. According to reports, the Rohingya crisis by that point had left at least 1,000 people dead, including children and infants. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

If Mass Atrocity Prevention Has a Future, the Responsibility to Protect Can’t Afford to Be Niche

States and international organizations must make the Responsibility to Protect a priority and integrate it into wider policy and programming.

Nov. 14, 2023 Cecilia Jacob

Draft Crimes Against Humanity Treaty: Toward a Gender Progressive, Survivor-Centric, Intersectional Approach

Civil society is calling on States to apply a gender-competent, survivor-centric, and intersectional lens to a new convention on crimes against humanity.

Nov. 13, 2023 Paloma van Groll

Coffins are lined up next to graves as a mass funeral takes place to bury victims of a military strike on a camp for displaced people near the northern Myanmar town of Laiza on October 10, 2023. Twenty-nine people were killed and dozens wounded in a military strike on a camp for displaced people in northern Myanmar, a spokesman for an ethnic rebel group that controls the area told AFP on October 10. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Why the United Nations Keeps Failing Victims of Atrocity Crimes

Prevention and the responsibility to protect are subordinated to other UN agendas, and special advisers too often sidelined.

Nov. 9, 2023 Karen Smith

Flags from all countries outside of the UN building in Manhattan.

Continued Positive Momentum on Crimes Against Humanity Treaty

An update on the U.N. General Assembly's Sixth Committee session in October, and what to expect for a proposed crimes against humanity treaty.

Nov. 9, 2023 Leila Nadya Sadat and Akila Radhakrishnan

The United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region (UNAMID) hands over its sector headquarters to the Sudanese government in Khor Abachi, some 120 kilometres north of Nyala capital of South Darfur State, on February 15, 2021. The photo shows two soldiers outdoors at the headquarters facing each other, with one holding a folded flag. UNAMID ended its 13 years of operations in Darfur on December 31 and started a phased withdrawal of its 8,000 or so armed and civilian personnel over six months. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

From Darfur to Darfur: The Fall and Rise of Indifference to Mass Atrocities in Africa

This arc reveals both the African Union’s strengths and weaknesses in stopping atrocity crimes, and what it might yet accomplish.

Nov. 2, 2023 Alex de Waal