INTERNATIONAL CRIMES

Genocide

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a)     Killing members of the group;

(b)     Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c)     Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d)     Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e)     Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Crimes against humanity

Any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

(a)     Murder;

(b)     Extermination;

(c)     Enslavement;

(d)     Deportation or forcible transfer of population;

(e)     Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;

(f)     Torture;

(g)     Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;

(h)     Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;

(i)     Enforced disappearance of persons;

(j)     The crime of apartheid;

(k)     Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

War crimes

Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:

(i)     Wilful killing;

(ii)     Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;

(iii)     Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;

(iv)     Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;

(v)     Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;

(vi)     Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;

(vii)     Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; (viii)     Taking of hostages.
RAPE

· Sexual violence is particularly brutal and too frequent in wartime.

· Consider one of the spoils of war.

· Rape has been used to bring about “ethnic cleansing” of an area, by spreading fear and compelling people to leave.

· Rape and other forms of sexual violence committed in wartime are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

· Sexual violence in times of armed conflict is not inevitable and must be prevented.

· Respect for and protection of women in wartime can and must become a reality.

Canadian Criminal Jurisdiction over international crimes

1) TAG: When the offender is present in Canada.

2) When the perpetrator of the international crime is a Canadian citizen.

3) When the victim of an international crime is a Canadian citizen.

4) When the perpetrator is a citizen of a state that was engaged in an armed conflict against Canada.