In the practice of international law, command responsibility (also superior responsibility) is the

legal doctrine A legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, Procedural law, procedural steps, or Test (law), test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. For example, a doctrine ...

of hierarchical accountability for

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

, whereby a commanding officer (military) and a superior officer (civil) are legally responsible for the war crimes and the crimes against humanity committed by his subordinates; thus, a commanding officer always is accountable for the acts of commission and the acts of omission of his soldiers.Guilty Associations: Joint Criminal Enterprise, Command Responsibility, and the Development of International Criminal Law
by Allison Marston Danner and Jenny S. Martinez, 15 September 2004.
by Robin Rowland, CBC News Online, 6 May 2004 In the late 19th century, the legal doctrine of command responsibility was codified in the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which are partly based upon the Lieber Code (General Orders No. 100, 24 April 1863), military law that legally allowed the Union Army to fight in the regular and the irregular modes of warfare deployed by the Confederacy during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

(1861–1865). As

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

, the legal doctrine and the term ''command responsibility'' were applied and used in the Leipzig war crimes trials (1921) that included the trial of Captain Emil Müller for prisoner abuse committed by his soldiers during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(1914–1918). by Iavor Rangelov and Jovan Nicic, Humanitarian Law Center, 23 February 2004.The Contemporary Law of Superior Responsibility
by Ilias Bantekas, American Journal of International Law, 3 July 1999Joint Criminal Enterprise and Command Responsibility
by Profr. Kai Ambos, University of Göttingen, 25 January 2007. In the 20th century, in the late 1940s, the Yamashita standard derived from the incorporation into the

U.S. Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

of the developments of the legal doctrine of command responsibility presented in the Nuremberg trials (1945–1946). Abiding by that legal precedent, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the U.S. prosecution of the war crimes case against Imperial Japanese Army General Tomoyuki Yamashita for the atrocities committed by his soldiers in the Philippine Islands, in the Pacific Theatre (1941–1945) of the Second World War. The

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on 29 April 1946 to Criminal procedure, try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their cri ...

charged, tried, and judged Gen. Yamashita for "unlawfully disregarding, and failing to discharge, his duty as a commander to control the acts of members of his command, by permitting them to commit war crimes".Stuart E Hendin
"Command Responsibility and Superior Orders in the Twentieth Century – A Century of Evolution"
''Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law'' In the 20th century, in the early 1970s, the Medina standard expanded the U.S. Code to include the criminal liability of American military officers for the war crimes committed by their subordinates, as are the war-criminal military officers of an enemy power. The Medina standard was established in the

court martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

of U.S. Army Captain Ernest Medina in 1971 for not exercising his command authority as a company commander, by not acting to halt the My Lai massacre (16 March 1968) committed by his soldiers during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

(1955–1975).

Historical development

9th-century BC to 5th-century BC Asia

In ''

The Art of War ''The Art of War'' is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is compos ...

'' (5th century BC),

Sun Tzu Sun Tzu (; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) may have been a Chinese General, military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC). Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the au ...

said that the duties and responsibilities of a commanding officer were to ensure that in prosecuting a war, his soldiers act in accordance with the customary laws of war, by limiting their operational actions to the military aims of the war. Deutsche Geschichte5-310

15th-century Europe

In 1474, in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

(962–1806), the trial of the Burgundian knight Peter von Hagenbach was the first international recognition of the

of command responsibility, of a commander's legal obligation to ensure that his soldiers act in accordance with

customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudinary or unofficial law) exists wher ...

in prosecuting their war.Greppi, Eduardo
"The evolution of individual criminal responsibility under international law"
University of Turin,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, International Committee of the Red Cross No. 835, p. 531–553, October 30, 1999.Grant, Linda
"Exhibit highlights the first international war crimes tribunal"
'"Harvard Law Bulletin''. The tribunal tried Hagenbach for atrocities committed by his soldiers during their military occupation of Breisach, and was found guilty of their war crimes, condemned to death, and then was beheaded.Schabas, William A
''An Introduction to the International Criminal Court''
(3rd ed.).

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. The Knight Hagenbach was accused of, tried, and convicted for war crimes that "he, as a knight, was deemed to have ada duty to prevent"; in self-defense, Hagenbach argued that he was only following the military orders of Charles the Bold,Murray, Don
"Judge and master"
''CBC News''. 8 July 2002. the Duke of Burgundy, to whom the Holy Roman Empire had bequeathed Breisach. Although the term ''command responsibility'' did not exist in the 15th century, the tribunal did presume he had a legal responsibility for war crimes of his soldiers, thus Hagenbach's trial was the first war crimes trial based upon the legal doctrine of command responsibility.Levine, Eugenia

Global Policy Forum. February 2005.

19th-century United States

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the legal doctrine of command responsibility was codified in the Lieber Code – General Orders No. 100: ''Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field'' (24 April 1863) – the contemporary updating of the 18th-century military law of the 1806 Articles of War that allowed the Union Army to lawfully combat the regular and irregular modes of warfare (partisans, guerrillas, spies) deployed by the Confederacy in the mid-19th century. As U.S. military law, the Lieber Code stipulated a commander's legal responsibility for the

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s and

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

committed by his subordinate officers, sergeants, and soldiers; and further stipulated the duties and rights of the individual soldier of the Union Army to not commit war crimes – such as the summary execution of Confederate POWs, irregular combatants, and enemy civilians; thus Article 71, Section III of the Lieber Code stipulates that:

20th century

The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are the international legal foundations for the conduct of war among civilized nations, especially the legal doctrine of command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Hague Convention of 1907 updated the codifications of the Hague Convention of 1899, thus, in Convention IV (18 October 1907), the ''Laws and Customs of War on Land'' emphasizes command responsibility in three places: (i) Section I: On Belligerents: Chapter I: The Qualifications of Belligerents; (ii) Section III: Military Authority over the Territory of the Hostile State; and (iii) the Adaptation to Maritime War of the Principles of the Geneva Convention deal specifically with command responsibility. To wit, Article 1 of Section I of Convention IV (Hague 1907) stipulates that: Moreover, command responsibility is stipulated in Article 43, Section III of Convention IV: Furthermore, command responsibility is stipulated in Article 19 of Convention X, the Adaptation to Maritime War of the Principles of the Geneva Convention:

Militias and irregular formations

Since the 1990s, national governments have hired mercenary soldiers to replace regular army soldiers in fighting wars, which replacement of tactical combat personnel (

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

) – by a private military company – raises the legal matter of command responsibility for the

s and

committed by mercenaries ostensibly not subject to the military law of any belligerent party. Political scientists and military jurists said that when the operational conduct of mercenary soldiers is indistinguishable from the operational conduct of the

combatant Combatant is the legal status of a person entitled to directly participate in hostilities during an armed conflict, and may be intentionally targeted by an adverse party for their participation in the armed conflict. Combatants are not afforded i ...

soldiers (uniform, weapons, tactics, missions, etc.) that practical likeness renders the mercenary (militiaman or irregular combatant) into a legitimate agent of the belligerent state, who thus is subject to the legal liabilities of command responsibility codified in the Hague and in the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

Yamashita standard

As a

of military law, command responsibility stipulates that an act of omission is a mode of individual criminal liability, whereby the commanding officer is legally responsible for the war crimes committed by his subordinates, by failing to act and prevent such crimes; and for failing to punish war-criminal subordinates. In late 1945, the war-crimes trial of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese Fourteenth Area Army, was the first instance of a commanding officer formally charged with a criminal act of omission by “unlawfully disregarding and failing to discharge his duty as a commander to control the acts of members of his command by permitting them to commit war crimes” in the Philippine Islands, where his soldiers committed atrocities against Allied prisoners of war, Filipino guerrillas, and civilians during the Second World War. Yamashita Tomoyuki

The

who charged, tried, and judged Gen. Yamashita guilty of war crimes established the ''Yamashita standard'' of criminal liability, whereby if "vengeful actions are widespread offenses, and there is no effective attempt by a commander to discover and control the criminal acts, hensuch a commander may be held responsible, even criminally liable". In 1946, with the ''Application of Yamashita'', the U.S. Supreme Court resolved the ambiguous wording of that legal definition of command responsibility, which did not establish the commander's required degree of knowledge of the war crimes committed by his subordinates. At Nuremberg, in the '' High Command Trial'', the U.S. military tribunal ruled that in order for a commanding officer to be criminally liable for the war crimes of his subordinates "there must be a personal dereliction", which "can only occur where the act is directly traceable to him, or where his failure to properly supervise his subordinates constitutes criminal negligence on his part" by way of "a wanton, immoral disregard of the actions of his subordinates amounting to he commander'sacquiescence" to the war crimes. At Nuremberg, in the trial of the '' Hostages Case'', the judgements of the U.S. military tribunal seemed to limit the circumstances wherein a commanding officer has a duty to investigate, document, and know in full of all instances of atrocity and war crime, especially if the commander already possessed information regarding the war crimes of his subordinate officers and soldiers. After the war crimes trials of the Second World War, military law expanded the scope and deepened the definition of command responsibility, by imposing criminal liability upon commanding officers who fail to prevent their soldiers from committing war crimes against prisoners of war and atrocities against civilians. The last two war-crime trials of the subsequent Nuremberg trials (1946–1949), explicitly discussed the requisite standard of the ''

mens rea In criminal law, (; Law Latin for "guilty mind") is the mental state of a defendant who is accused of committing a crime. In common law jurisdictions, most crimes require proof both of ''mens rea'' and '' actus reus'' ("guilty act") before th ...

'' (a guilty mind) for war crimes to occur, and determined that a lesser level of knowledge is sufficient for the commander to be complicit in the war crimes of his subordinates.

Superior responsibility

Legalized torture

Concerning the superior responsibility inherent to

civilian control of the military Civil control of the military is a doctrine in military science, military and political science that places ultimate command responsibility, responsibility for a country's Grand strategy, strategic decision-making in the hands of the state's c ...

, civil and military jurists said that prosecuting the War on Terror would expose the officers of the George W. Bush administration (2001–2008) to legal liability for the

and for the

committed by their military subordinates in Iraq and Afghanistan. Alberto Gonzales - official DoJ photograph

Consequent to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. government deployed legalistic arguments to justify torture by way of prisoner abuse, arguing that captured al Qaeda fighters are unlawful combatants – not soldiers – and thus could be subjected to enhanced interrogation methods, because under U.S. law they were classified as ''detainees'' and not as ''prisoners of war'' (POWs). To justify flouting the

(1949) protecting prisoners of war, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzáles said that classifying al Qaeda POWs as ''unlawful combatants'' "substantially reduces the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act of 1996". In the case of '' Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'', the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Attorney General Gonzáles' illegal reclassification of POWs as detainees; ruled that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to the Al Qaeda POWs at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp; and ruled that the

Guantanamo military commission The Guantanamo military commissions were established by President George W. Bush through a military order on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of eight ...

who tried, judged, and sentenced al Qaeda POWs was an illegitimate military tribunal, because the U.S. Congress did not establish it. Moreover, the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

organization said that, given his superior responsibility of government office, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld would be criminally liable for the torturing of the prisoner Mohammed al-Qahtani. In "The Real Meaning of the Hamdan Ruling Supreme Court: Bush Administration Has Committed War Crimes" (2006), the writer Dave Lindorff said that in flouting the Geneva Conventions, the Bush administration were legally liable for war crimes in U.S.-occupied Iraq.

Universal jurisdiction

In 2006, a prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials (1945–1946), Benjamin Ferencz, said that the U.S. invasion of Iraq (2003) was a crime against peace that breached international law, and so exposed the superior responsibility of U.S. President George W. Bush for unilaterally launching an aggressive war. In November 2006, the Federal Republic of Germany invoked

universal jurisdiction Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows Sovereign state, states or International organization, international organizations to prosecute individuals for serious crimes, such as genocide, War crime, war crimes, and crimes against hu ...

and began legal proceedings against U.S. defense secretary Rumsfeld, U.S. Attorney General Gonzáles, the jurist John Yoo, and CIA chief George Tenet, for their legal liability for U.S. war crimes. 07-09-02 14-44-06 Manfred Nowak 1

Moreover, in legal practice, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) functions as an

amnesty law An amnesty law is any legislative, constitutional or executive arrangement that retroactively exempts a select group of people, usually military leaders and government leaders, from criminal liability for the crimes that they committed. More speci ...

for the Bush administration to flout their superior responsibility and thus their legal liability for war crimes committed when prosecuting the War on Terror, because, by denying POWs the right of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

'', the MCA retroactively rewrote the War Crimes Act of 1996, which defined ''war crime'' as any serious violation of the Geneva Convention, which left the POW no means of legal defense. In "Court 'can envisage' Blair Prosecution" (2007), the jurist Luis Moreno-Ocampo (ICC, 2003–2012) offered to begin a war-crimes enquiry for a war-crimes trial of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush, for the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

to hear. In "History Will Not Absolve Us: Leaked Red Cross Report Sets up Bush Team for International War-crimes Trial" (2007), Nat Hentoff said that the report ''Leave No Marks: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality'' (2007), by Human Rights First and Physicians for Social Responsibility, would be evidence of U.S. war crimes at a war-crimes trial of the War on Terror. Moreover, by the end of the Bush administration in 2008, the international community said that the United Nations Convention Against Torture (1985) obligated the U.S. government to prosecute the civilian and military officers who ordered and realized the torture of POWs captured during the War on Terror.Other countries might pursue war-crime prosecutions * Horton, Scott
"Overseas, Expectations Build for Torture Prosecutions"
''Harper's''. 19 January 2009. * Kaleck, Wolfgang. [The empty dock – sensitive legal legacy: US President-elect Barack Obama must decide whether to prosecute his predecessors. Possible defendants include George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld]. ''Süddeutsche Zeitung''. 19 January 2009 (in German). The United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak (in office 2004–2010), said that, as a former president of the U.S., George W. Bush had lost his head-of-state immunity and that international law obligated the U.S. government to start criminal proceedings against the government officials and military officers who violated the U.N. Convention Against Torture.Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment calls for prosecution * Marinero, Ximena
"UN torture investigator calls on Obama to charge Bush for Guantanamo abuses"
. ''Jurist''. January 21, 2009. * Horton, Scott
"UN Rapporteur: Initiate criminal proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld now"
''Harper's''. January 21, 2009. In support of Nowak's statement, the jurist Dietmar Herz explained that former president George W. Bush is criminally responsible for adopting torture-as-interrogation, per the legal doctrine of superior responsibility stipulated in the international laws of war and the U.S. Code.

Codification

The Additional Protocol I (AP I, 1977) to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 was the first comprehensive codification of the legal doctrine of command responsibility. In the Additional Protocol No. I, the terms of Article 86(2) "explicitly address the knowledge factor of command responsibility", and stipulate that: Therefore, in the execution of military operations, Article 86(2) obligates a commanding officer to "prevent, and, where necessary, to suppress and report to competent authorities" any violation of the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol I.

Definitions

In discussions of ''command responsibility'' the term ''command'' is defined as Moreover, Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention and the statutes of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international court, international ''ad-hoc'' court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, Resolutio ...

(ICTR), and the

(ICC) stipulate that the prevention and prosecution of

and of

are legal responsibilities of a commanding officer.

Application

Nuremberg tribunal

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Nuremberg trials (20 November 1945 – 1 October 1946) resulted from the common opinion among jurists that the severity of Nazi war crimes and crimes against humanity (e.g.

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

) required prosecution, judgement, and resolution by an International Military Tribunal authorized by the Nuremberg Charter (8 August 1945), which determined the procedures and legal bases to prosecute military officers, civil officials, and civilian people who committed: Legally, the jurisdiction of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg applied to all "leaders, organisers, instigators and accomplices" who participated in planning and committing crimes against humanity and war crimes.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

The ICTY statute article 7 (3) establishes that the fact that crimes "were committed by a subordinate does not relieve his superior of criminal responsibility if he knew or had reason to know that the subordinate was about to commit such acts or had done so and the superior failed to take the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or to punish the perpetrators." ''The Prosecutor v. Delalić et al.'' ("the Čelebići case") first considered the scope of command responsibility by concluding that "had reason to know" (article 7(3)) means that a commander must have "had in his possession information of a nature, which at the least, would put him on notice of the risk of ... offences by indicating the need for additional investigation in order to ascertain whether ... crimes were committed or were about to be committed by his subordinates." In ''The Prosecutor v. Blaškić'' ("the Blaškić case") this view was corroborated. However, it differed regarding the ''mens rea'' required by AP I. The Blaškić Trial Chamber concluded that "had reason to know", as defined by the ICTY Statute, also imposes a stricter "should have known" standard of the ''mens rea''. The conflicting views of both cases were addressed by the Appeals Chambers in Čelebići and in a separate decision in Blaškić. Both rulings hold that some information of unlawful acts by subordinates must be available to the commander following which he did not, or inadequately, discipline the perpetrator. The concept of command responsibility has developed significantly in the jurisprudence of the ICTY. One of the most recent judgements that extensively deals with the subject is the Halilović judgement of 16 November 2005 (para. 22–100).

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

United Nations Security Council Resolution 955 (1994) set up an international criminal tribunal to judge people responsible for the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

and other serious violations of

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

, or by Rwandan citizens in nearby states, between 1 January and 31 December 1994; additional later resolutions expanded the scope and timeline of the tribunal. The tribunal has jurisdiction over

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

, and

. The judgement against Jean-Paul Akayesu established

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

as a war crime. Rape was placed in line with "other acts of serious bodily and mental harm" rather than the historical view of rape as "a trophy of war". Akayesu was held responsible for his actions and non-actions as mayor and police commander of a commune in which many Tutsis were killed, raped, tortured, and otherwise persecuted. Another case prosecuted persons in charge of a radio station and a newspaper that incited and then encouraged the Rwandan genocide. The defendants were charged with genocide, incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity for their positions of control and command in the " hate media", although they physically had not committed the acts.

International Criminal Court

Following several

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

tribunals, the international community decided on a comprehensive court of justice for future crimes against humanity. This resulted in the International Criminal Court, which identified four categories. #

Genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

Crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

War crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

# Crimes of aggression Article 28 of the

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

codified the doctrine of command responsibility. With Article 28(a), military commanders are imposed with individual responsibility for crimes committed by forces under their effective command and control if they It uses the stricter "should have known" standard of mens rea, instead of "had reason to know", as defined by the ICTY Statute. Although the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber established a test for the "should have known" standard during the prosecution of Jean-Pierre Bemba, it has never been tested because Bemba had "actual knowledge" of crimes by his subordinates. The Bush administration adopted the American Servicemembers' Protection Act and entered into Article 98 agreements in an attempt to protect any US citizen from appearing before this court. As such it interferes with implementing the command responsibility principle when applicable to US citizens.American Servicemembers' Protection Act * Scharf, Michael P
"The Nuremberg Tribunal: Background Reading about the International Criminal Court"
. Case Western Reserve University. * Krasnor, Emily

'' The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution''. * Dolin, Benjamin R

. Law and Government Division, Library of The Parliament of Canada. 14 May 2002.
"Chapter 9: Individual Accountability for Violations of Human Dignity: International Criminal Law and Beyond"

War in Darfur

commented on this conflict by stating that: ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' in March 2006 and the '' Sudan Tribune'' in March 2008 reported that the UN Panel of Experts determined that Salah Gosh and Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein Following an inquiry by the United Nations, regarding allegations of involvement of the Government in genocide, the dossier was referred to the International Criminal Court.''Sunday Times'' and ''Sudan Tribune'' report on UN Panel * Jaber, Hala
"Massacres suspect let into Britain"
''The Sunday Times''. March 12, 2006. * Suleiman, Mahmoud A
"Darfur, The $64 Question"
''Sudan Tribune''. March 3, 2008. On May 2, 2007, the ICC issued

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

s for militia leader Ali Muhammad al-Abd al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, of the Janjaweed, and Ahmad Muhammad Haroun for crimes against humanity and war crimes. To this day Sudan has refused to comply with the arrest warrants and has not turned them over to the ICC. The

's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, announced on July 14, 2008, ten criminal charges against President Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of sponsoring

, and

.Bashir indicted * Walker, Peter and Sturcke, James
"Darfur genocide charges for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. July 14, 2008. * Zimmermann, Dominik
"ICC prosecutor seeking arrest warrant for the President of Sudan"
'' International Law Observer''. July 14, 2008. The ICC's prosecutors have charged al-Bashir with

because he "masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part" three tribal groups in Darfur because of their ethnicity. The ICC's prosecutor for Darfur, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is expected within months to ask a panel of ICC judges to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir.

Zimbabwe

For his conduct as President of

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, including allegations of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of political opponents, it was suggested Robert Mugabe may be prosecuted using this doctrine."Mugabe unlikely to pay for his crimes"
''

Brisbane Times ''Brisbane Times'' is an online newspaper for Brisbane and Queensland, Australia. It is owned and run by Nine Publishing, publishers of ''The Age'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and other mastheads. As of 2024, the editor is Sean Parnell. H ...

''. April 4, 2008. Because Zimbabwe has not subscribed to the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction it may be authorised by the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. The precedent for this was set by its referral to bring indictments relating to the crimes committed in Darfur.Robert Mugabe may be prosecuted * Ellis, Mark S.br>"We can do something about Mugabe: The International Criminal Court has every right to demand justice and accountability"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. April 30, 2008
"Robert Mugabe 'unlikely to flee Zimbabwe
'' The Telegraph''.

Notes

References

The interests of States versus the doctrine of superior responsibility
Ilias Bantekas, International Review of the Red Cross No. 838, p. 391–402
YAMASHITA, MEDINA, AND BEYOND: COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY IN CONTEMPORARY MILITARY OPERATIONS
MILITARY LAW REVIEW
THE TRIBUNAL'S FIRST TRIAL TO CONSIDER COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY...
by the ICTY
The Haditha Double Standard
by Victor Hansen,

JURIST A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

The Last Line of Defense: The Doctrine of Command Responsibility, Gender Crimes in Armed Conflict, and the Kahan Report (Sabra & Shatilla)The Berkeley Electronic PressYAMASHITA v. STYER, Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces, Western Pacific
Findlaw
Yamashita v. Styer, 327 U.S. 1 (1946)
o

by Anne E. Mahle, PBS
Command Responsibility in the United States
by Anne E. Mahle, PBS * BY JOHN D. HUTSON AND JAMES CULLEN
Guilty Associations: Joint Criminal Enterprise, Command Responsibility, and the Development of International Criminal Law
by Allison Marston Danner† and Jenny S. Martinez, CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW
YAMASHITA, MEDINA, AND BEYOND: COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY IN CONTEMPORARY MILITARY OPERATIONS
by MAJOR MICHAEL L. SMIDT

by Stuart E Hendin BA, MA, LLB, LLM, QC, Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, Volume 10, Number 1 (March 2003)
The Last Line of Defense: The Doctrine of Command ResponsibilitySUPERIOR OR COMMAND RESPONSIBILITYTHE YAMASHITA WAR CRIMES TRIAL: COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY THEN AND NOW
by Major Bruce D. Landrum
Sugamo and the River Kwai
By Robin Rowland, Paper presented to Encounters at Sugamo Prison, Tokyo 1945–52, The American Occupation of Japan and Memories of the Asia-Pacific War,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, May 9, 2003
ROLE OF THE ARMED FORCES IN THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
General McCaffrey presented the following on 18 November 1995 during "Nuremberg and the Rule of Law: A Fifty-Year Verdict."

By Ilias Bantekas, the American Journal of International Law v.93, no. 3, July 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Command Responsibility International criminal law Law of war Legal doctrines and principles