US says Russian Army committed war crimes in Ukraine 2:18
(CNN Spanish) --
The international community has tried for centuries to prosecute war crimes, but doing so has been very difficult and international humanitarian law has faced numerous obstacles.
Russia's war in Ukraine, which began more than a month ago, has brought the focus back to war crimes, their definition and the possibility of prosecuting their perpetrators.
This Monday, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, described as a "war crime" the atrocities committed by Russia and President Vladimir Putin in the city of Bucha, where the bodies of at least 20 civilian men were found in a line in a single street.
Some lay face down on the pavement, while others fell on their backs, mouths open in tragic testimony to the horrors of the Russian occupation.
And on March 23, the US government had formally declared that members of Russia's armed forces had committed war crimes in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The decision to issue an indictment represented a significant step by the US government, after several weeks in which it refused to officially say that attacks carried out against civilians in Ukraine are war crimes.
However, it remains to be seen whether those accused of committing such alleged crimes will be held accountable and whether Russia's President Vladimir Putin himself will be held accountable.
CNN investigation into Mariupol bombing debunks Russian allegation 3:40
There have also been reports of the use of cluster bombs, prohibited by a treaty -which neither Washington nor Moscow have signed-, by Russia, as well as the deployment -although their use has not been proven- of thermobaric weapons, which could be prohibited according to interpretations.
What are war crimes?
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has specific definitions for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
"War crimes include serious breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in 'non-international' conflicts listed in the Rome Statute, when committed as part of a plan or policy or on a large scale," says the ICC.
Specifically, targeting civilian populations, targeting specific groups of people, and others could be possible war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
ANALYSIS |
Everything you need to know about war crimes and how Putin could be prosecuted
"One thing is certain, that intentionally directing bombardment or attacking civilians or civilian objects is a crime within the court's jurisdiction," ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
“And even if there is a military necessity, there is a clear obligation on parties to a conflict not to use disproportionate force, to ensure that the ammunition used and weapons do not have a very wide footprint in dense civilian areas,” Khan said. .
How do cluster bombs and thermobaric weapons work?
2:44
The UN notes that the drive to codify and prosecute war crimes began between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
The Hague conventions of 1899 and 1907, the Geneva conventions of 1864 and 1949 (plus the 1977 protocols), are the main instruments that identify war crimes.
"Many of the norms contained in these treaties have been considered part of customary law and, as such, are binding on all states (and other parties to the conflict), whether or not they have ratified the treaties themselves," the UN says.
What courts try war crimes?
The ICC, formed in 2002 through the Rome Statute and based in The Hague, the Netherlands, is in charge of trying people accused of war crimes.
Previously, ad hoc
tribunals
, that is, formed to try specific crimes and then dissolved, were created to carry out trials for war crimes.
The International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ) listens to the arguments of Ukraine, which requests that it classify the Russian invasion as genocide.
(Credit: Frank van Beek/ICJ via Getty Images)
The Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals, at the end of World War II to try the leaders of the defeated Axis powers, and those created by the UN for the former Yugoslavia, centered on the Serbian autocrat Slobodan Milosevic, and for the genocide of Rwanda, are some of the most significant examples and the background of the ICC.
Who can be charged with a war crime?
Anyone charged with a crime in the court's jurisdiction, which includes countries that are members of the ICC, can be tried.
Russia withdrew from the ICC in 2016. The United States, like Israel and other states, is not a party.
The court judges people, not countries, and focuses on those who bear the greatest responsibility: leaders and officials.
Although Ukraine is also not a member of the court, it previously accepted its jurisdiction, and the ICC recently announced that it would investigate Russian actions from November 2013 to the present.
The processes can be very extensive and complex due to jurisdictional issues.
Investigations at the ICC have been going on for many years and have only resulted in a handful of convictions.
With information from Zachary B. Wolf and the CNN Research Library.
war in ukraine