Crimes Against Humanity and the Armed Conflict Nexus: From Nuremberg to the ICC

Abstract

This study charts the development of the concept of crimes against humanity from the “golden age” of jus in bello into a “golden age” of international criminal justice. In the past two decades, the concept of crimes against humanity has evolved in the legislative and jurisprudential sphere, in that it is no longer shackled to the jus in bello framework. This study will first briefly consider crimes against humanity’s armed conflict nexus during the Golden Age of jus in bello in order to accurately appreciate the subsequent work of practitioners on these crimes. The study then analyses some potential reasons behind the erosion – and yet often perceived presence – of the armed conflict nexus, using the ICC as a case study.

Keywords: Armed conflict, armed conflict nexus, crimes against humanity, cumulative charges, cumulative charging, ICC, ICTR, ICTY, IMT, International Criminal Court, international criminal justice, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, International Criminal Tribunal Yugoslavia, jus in bello