Crimes Against Humanity

Humanity is a virtue associated with basic ethics of altruism derived from the human condition. It also symbolizes human love and compassion towards each other.

Humanity differs from mere justice in that there is a level of altruism towards individuals included in humanity more so than the fairness found in justice. That is, humanity, and the acts of love, altruism, and social intelligence are typically individual strengths while fairness is generally expanded to all. Humanity can be classed as one of six virtues that are consistent across all cultures.

The concept goes back to the development of "humane" or "humanist" philosophy during the Renaissance (with predecessors in 13th-century scholasticism stressing a concept of basic human dignity inspired by Aristotelianism) and the concept of humanitarianism in the early modern period, and resulted in modern notions such as "human rights".

Confucius said that humanity, or “Ren” (仁), is a “love of people” stating “if you want to make a stand, help others make a stand.” That is, the Confucian theory of humanity exemplifies the golden rule. It is so central to Confucian thought that it appears 58 times in the Analects. Similar to the Christian process of seeking God, Confucius teaches seeking Ren to a point of seemingly divine mastery until you are equal to, or better than, your teacher. The Confucian concept of Ren encompasses both love and altruism.

Plato and Aristotle both wrote extensively on the subject of virtues, though neither ever wrote on humanity as a virtue, despite highly valuing love and kindness, two of the strengths of humanity. Plato and Aristotle considered "courage, justice, temperance" and "generosity, wit, friendliness, truthfulness, magnificence, and greatness of soul" to be the sole virtues, respectively.

Humanity is one of Thomas Aquinas' "Seven Heavenly Virtues." Beyond that, humanity was so important in some positivist Christian cultures that it was to be capitalized like God. Kindness, altruism and love are all mentioned in the bible. (Proverbs 19:22) "States the desire of a man is his kindness." On the topic of altruism, emphasis is placed on helping strangers (Hebrews 13:1) and the biblical adage "It is better to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

Crime as such, is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term crime does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition, though statutory definitions have been provided for certain purposes. The most popular view is that crime is a category created by law; in other words, something is a crime if declared as such by the relevant and applicable law. One proposed definition is that a crime or offence (or criminal offence) is an act harmful not only to some individual but also to a community, society, or the state (a public wrong).

Crimes against humanity are certain acts that are purposely committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian or an identifiable part of a civilian population. The first prosecution for crimes against humanity took place at the Nuremberg trials.

These crimes against entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.

Crimes against humanity consist of various acts, when, according to the ICC , those are “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.”

The term also has a broader use in condemning other acts that, in a phrase often used, “shock the conscience of mankind.” World poverty, human-made environmental disasters, and terrorist attacks have thus been described as crimes against humanity. The broader use of the term may be intended only to register the highest possible level of moral outrage, or the intention may be to suggest that such offenses be recognized, formally, as legal offenses.

Considered either as a legal offense or as a moral category, the concept of crimes against humanity embodies the idea that individuals who either make or follow state policy can be held accountable by the international community.

It thus modifies traditional notions of sovereignty according to which state leaders and those who obeyed them enjoyed immunity. Political and legal theorists have justified that challenge to the idea of sovereignty in several ways. For some, a crime against humanity is simply an inhumanity of an especially gross type.

For others, major atrocities have the potential to damage international peace, for they are either a prelude to external aggression or have effects that spill over state borders. For still others, genocide is at the core of crimes against humanity; the term crime against humanity was first officially used in condemning the Armenian Genocide and was first adopted in law as a response to the Holocaust.

Genocidal attacks on people on the basis of group membership implicitly deny the victims’ human status, according to that view, thus affronting all human beings. Yet others reject those views and focus rather on the basic nature of state authority: states are justified only by their capacity to protect their citizens, and, when their powers turn atrociously against a state’s own citizens, they lose all warrant, and those who direct and obey them become subject to judgment and sanction by the entire human community. How to distribute blame between those who direct and those who follow is, however, a contested issue in both morality and law.

Twenty years after the 'Statute of the International Criminal Court' was adopted in Rome, its core goal of ‘ending impunity’ is still so far out of reach that, in marking the anniversary, many supporters of international justice no doubt wonder where to go from there.

The world is very different than it was in the 1990's. For that brief period at the turn of the century human rights dominated the international agenda.

Disturbingly, since 9/11, states support for such ideals has waned. The Statute adopted in Rome would not see the light of day if the negotiations took place now. Armed conflicts are as prevalent as ever, with civilians continuing to experience the brunt of the violence.

“Wars” on terror and drugs, as well as repression and exploitation by state and non-state actors, including corporations, have escalated in almost all corners of the globe. Extremist politics advocating religious and racial hatred, misogyny and persecution of marginalized groups have gained traction in a disturbing number of states. Abuse of power has been exposed almost everywhere that power exists…

Food for thought!