Where is R2P grounded in international law? Anne-Marie Judson A ...

ethnic, cultural, religious or other grounds that are universally recognized as protected
under intentional law. 303
In addition to this the statute says that crimes against humanity can include an attack
directed against any civilian population, involving multiple commissions of acts in
furtherance of a state or organizational policy. It explains a wide range of meanings
and descriptions that must be limited. One example of this is enforced disappearance
which is explained as the arrest, detention or abduction of persons with the
authorization, support or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by
a refusal to acknowledge the whereabouts of those persons with the intention of
removing them from the protection of the law. 304 Crimes against humanity are also
described as offences that constitute a serious attack on a collective group of people or
in some situations, individuals. 305 The Rome Statute adds to the debate in that it may
be a part of a government policy that is being tolerated or condoned by a government
with the intention to destroy its population in whole or in part.
At first glance a crime against humanity looks distinctive from war crimes in that it
does not require a conflict between two or more parties. However, earlier definitions
have failed to defend a crime against humanity as a violation of international law.
This was the case with the Charter (1939) of the International Military Tribunal set
up for the Nuremberg Trial Proceedings (1945 to 1946). The tribunal provided a
statement that a crime against humanity could not be clarified as a violation during a
time of peace:
With regard to crimes against humanity, there is no doubt whatever that political opponents
were murdered in Germany before the war, and that many of them were kept in
concentration camps in circumstances of great horror and cruelty. The policy of terror was
certainly carried out on a vast scale, and in many cases was organized and systematic. The
policy of persecution, repression and murder of civilians in Germany before the war of 1939,
who were likely to be hostile to the Government, was most ruthlessly carried out. The
persecution of Jews during the same period is established beyond all doubt. To constitute
303 Articles 7
304 Article 7.2 appendix x
305 See for example the Goldstone report in relation to war crimes in an Occupied state, and
references to crimes against humanity, and violations on both sides of the Israeli, Palestinian
conflict. United Nations document (A/HRC/12/48) 2009, Human rights in Palestine and other
occupied Arab territories, Report of the United Nations fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict,
human rights council twelfth session agenda item 7
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