While the conflict has already caused thousands of deaths in just a few days, a semantic question has arisen in the public debate in France.
This is a semantic debate that has been going on for several days. While Catherine Colonna, Minister of Foreign Affairs, affirmed on franceinfo on Wednesday October 11 that“one can consider” that Hamas attacks “are related” to crimes against humanity, other elected officials, notably Insoumis, speak instead of war crimes.
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To distinguish between the two terms, we must return to the definition in international law. The UN recalls that war crimes are defined mainly by two texts: the Geneva Convention, signed following the Second World War by almost the entire planet, but also by the Rome Statute, adopted at the end of the 1990s when the International Criminal Court was created. In these two texts, war crimes are defined “as violations of laws and customs” of war, such as attacking civilians, humanitarian convoys, prisoners of war or even by bombing hospitals. War crimes, and this is an important point, also always take place in the context of an armed conflict, whether between two countries or in the event of civil war.
About the crimes against humanity, the definition used by the UN is found in the Rome Statute, which founded the International Criminal Court. According to the treaty, a crime against humanity corresponds to the attack “generalized or systematic launched against any civilian population”. This could be murder, genocide, torture or sexual violence. The big difference with war crimes is that a crime against humanity is not necessarily linked to an armed conflict. It can occur in times of peace, for example slavery is considered a crime against humanity.
The UN speaks of “war crimes” on both sides
In the case of Israel and Gaza, are we talking about war crimes or crimes against humanity? In recent days, the UN, which launched a commission of inquiry, speaks of war crimes with “clear evidence” both on the Hamas side and on the Israeli side. VSThis independent United Nations commission will continue to collect evidence before transmitting its information to the International Criminal Court, which is the competent judicial authority in cases of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
It is then the ICC, after a long investigation, which will classify the facts as war crimes, crimes against humanity or both. The International Criminal Court will decide whether or not to prosecute those responsible for these crimes whether they are linked to a State, Israel and its army, or to a terrorist organization, such as Hamas, since terrorist groups can be tried. For example, the ICC is investigating possible crimes against humanity committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria.