War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave
labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of
prisoners of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity".
[1]
Colloquial definitions of
war crime include violations of established protections of the
laws of war, but also include failures to adhere to norms of procedure and rules of
battle, such as attacking those displaying a peaceful
flag of truce, or using that same flag as a
ruse of war to mount an attack. Attacking enemy troops while they are being deployed by way of a parachute is not a war crime.
[5] However, Protocol I, Article 42 of the
Geneva Conventions explicitly forbids attacking parachutists who eject from damaged airplanes, and surrendering parachutists once landed.
[6] War crimes include such acts as mistreatment of
prisoners of war or civilians. War crimes are sometimes part of instances of
mass murder and
genocide though these crimes are more broadly covered under
international humanitarian law described as
crimes against humanity.
War crimes are significant in international
humanitarian law
[7] because it is an area where international tribunals such as the
Nuremberg Trials and
Tokyo trials have been convened. Recent examples are the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which were established by the
UN Security Council acting under Chapter VIII of the
UN Charter.
Under the
Nuremberg Principles,
war crimes are different from
crimes against peace which is planning, preparing, initiating, or waging a
war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances.
