International crimes: concept and types

In global legal norms there is noa single concept of an international crime. However, they contain its main features. In various sources, there is such a definition as "an international crime against humanity and the world." Many scientists and the UN Commission consider these terms synonymous. In this connection, it was decided not to introduce a general definition. The UN Commission concluded that the establishment of the general limits of the concept defining international crimes, the concept and types of such acts provided for in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal (in Article 6), should be implemented in practice.

General Definition

Currently in the world and domesticliterature offers a lot of definitions. Analyzing them, the specialists tried to formulate a general definition. International criminal offense is a violation of global legal regulations. It entails individual punishment for the person who committed it. The main feature of this act is its principal jurisdiction of the court of any country that wants and has the opportunity to start the appropriate production. This feature distinguishes international crimes from ordinary acts, the persecution of which concerns the doctrine of state sovereignty.

Similar category

Crimes of an international characterrepresent an encroachment on peaceful cooperation in various spheres of relations: property, socio-cultural, economic and so on. Such acts harm the legal persons and citizens of different countries. Penalties for crimes of an international character may be established in relevant interstate agreements. However, such treaties must be ratified by the countries that signed them. The prosecution of the perpetrators in this case is carried out within the limits of a particular state jurisdiction. Such acts, as a rule, include piracy, hijacking of planes, counterfeiting, manufacturing and distribution of drugs and so on.

What are the signs of international crimes?

Their characteristics are based on certainfeatures. First of all, this is a wide sphere of distribution. An international crime, a crime against peace, covers violations of both ordinary, general norms and the terms of interstate agreements. Regulations that are not observed by the guilty party should be aimed at protecting specific values. They are viewed by the world community as the most important and connecting all people and all countries. The main values ​​are fixed:

• In the UN Charter.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• European Convention.
• International Covenants.
• Geneva Convention, etc.

The fight against international crimes is a task for the entire world community.

Basic Types

In the normative documents, the following types of international crimes are distinguished:

1. Genocide.
2. Military encroachment.
3. Crimes against humanity.
4. Aggression.

Genocide

This definition covers international legal crimes committed with the aim of destroying an ethnic, religious or national group. In particular, they include:

1. Murder of community members.
2. Prevention of childbearing.
3. Mental impact.
4. Limitation of conditions for normal life.
5. Physical damage.

These international crimes are enshrined in the Convention on the Prevention of and Punishment of Genocide of 1948, in the Rome Statute of the ICC of 1998.

Infringements on citizens

This category includes the following international crimes:

• Enslavement.
• Murder.
• Link.
• Persecution on religious, racial, political and other grounds, etc.

These acts are reflected in the Rome Statute, the Statute of the International Tribunal.

Military assault

These include such international crimes:

• Slavery against the inhabitants of the occupied territory.
• Torture of civilians.
• The killings of citizens.
• Violent acts against prisoners of war.
• Kill the hostages.
• The ruin and robbery of private or public property, not justified by military maneuvers.
• Destruction of villages or cities, etc.

Such crimes are enshrined in the statute of the tribunal, the Rome Statute, the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions.

Domestic legislation

Responsibility for international crimes is recorded in ch. 34 of the Criminal Code. It provides for the punishment for the following articles:

• 354 - for a public call for the outbreak of war.
• 356 - for the use of prohibited methods and means of warfare.
• 357 - for genocide.
• 360 - for the attack on institutions and persons under international protection.

It should be said that Art. 356 of the Criminal Code is inherently blanket, since it contains a reference to interstate agreements with the Russian Federation.

Recognition of deeds: the consequences

Researchers identify several of the most significant legal consequences of classifying abuses as international crimes:

1. Acts of this category are punished regardless of whether any sanctions are provided for them in domestic legislation.
2. International assault may be prosecuted.courts, which in other (normal) circumstances would not have the appropriate jurisdiction. This means that the subjects who are allegedly responsible for their commission can be condemned and punished by any country, regardless of the territorial connection with the act and the nationality of the victim or attacker. Neither the absence of a direct threat to security or the national interests of this state will matter. Thus, the prosecution is carried out by an instance, even if there are no traditional grounds for jurisdiction.
3. International encroachments softengenerally accepted norms that provide for the immunity of heads of state and other higher persons from prosecution. This means that the person who committed such an act acted as a government official, a representative of the state. The integrity of the criminal or civil jurisdiction of the competent courts and foreign countries does not apply to such a subject. As an exception, there are acting state heads, diplomatic representatives, foreign ministers, who enjoy immunity until they leave office.
4. The court may be granted temporary jurisdiction.on international acts committed prior to its establishment. This rule is limited to cases where offenses were criminalized in global norms at the time of the commission.
5. The statute of limitations cannot apply to international crimes, in any case, such as genocide, war crimes, torture, acts against humanity.
6. Amnesty acts adopted by the authorities of the countrieswhose citizens are entities that allegedly committed acts, or on whose territory the offenses in question took place, do not bind the courts of other states and other competent authorities.

Infringement on protected subjects

The list of persons whose acts are recognized as international crimes is enshrined in the relevant convention. According to the document, the subjects under protection should include:

1. The head of state or each member of the collegial body performing his duties.
2. An official or other agent of an international intergovernmental organization, members of their families living with them.
3. Minister of Foreign Affairs.
4. Representatives of the state or other officials who have the right to special protection.
5. Head of Government.
6. Accompanying persons of the above subjects, members of their families.

Forethought

It is established in relation to crimes, if it was committed:

1. Abduction, murder or other encroachment on the freedom and identity of the subject under special protection.
2. Assault with the use of violence on residential, official premises, the vehicle of such a person.
3. Attempt to encroachment.
4. Complicity in the attack.
5. The expression of threats against a person under special protection.

Unlike the domestic criminal system, ininternational law provides for a wider range of acts. It does not matter the motive for which the encroachment was committed. The main provisions for special protection of persons are set out in the conventions. One of them was adopted in 1994. It regulates the safety of UN personnel and related persons. The latter, in particular, include participants in peacekeeping operations, employees of non-governmental organizations that provide humanitarian assistance. Attacks against such entities are recognized as crimes in accordance with national criminal law.

Hostage taking

This crime is described as dangerous.act of terrorism. Initially, hostage-taking was classified as a violation of the norms generally accepted in the world only if it was associated with armed conflicts. The characteristic of this crime is established in the Convention of 1979, to which the USSR joined in 1987. The document, in particular, states that a subject who seizes and holds another person, threatening to kill, harm, or continues to hold him, in order to force the state, intergovernmental organization or any citizen / legal entity to commit an act as a prerequisite for release commits hostage taking. An attempt to participate in such an act is also considered as such a crime. In this case, it is a crime of an international character. In this regard, in Art. 13 of the convention stipulates that the provisions of the document do not apply to cases where the seizure of citizens is committed within the territory of one country, and the attacker and the victim are its citizens, while the first is in this state. This note sets the framework for the interaction of powers in the fight against such a crime. At the same time, this reservation does not prevent the government of the state from envisaging in its own legislation a punishment for any act of taking hostages.

Drug trafficking

Illegal manufacturing operationsmarketing of such substances for many decades act as an object of international regulatory impact. Today, there are Uniform Conventions on psychotropic and narcotic drugs in the world. They involve extensive legal regulation, provide for methods of control over the circulation of prohibited connections. In particular, punishment is provided for illegal:

1. Import / export
2. Storage.
3. Cultivation and manufacture.
4. Sale / purchase.

The new regulation isThe UN Convention governing the methods of combating the illicit trafficking of such compounds. This document was adopted in 1988. The USSR ratified it in 1989. The convention proclaims that the eradication of the illicit distribution, manufacture and storage of narcotic and psychotropic substances is a collective duty of all countries. A list of actions that qualify as a deliberate violation of the prescribed prescriptions is given in Art. 3. Domestic legislation also provides for liability for such acts. The Federal Law "On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances", adopted in 1998, has a complex meaning. It approved the basics of government policy in the field of illicit trafficking in these substances, there are references to international acts.

Aircraft capture

This crime is also described inUN Convention. The document notes that such an act endangers the safety of property and persons, causes significant damage to air traffic, and undermines citizens' confidence in flight safety. Characteristics of the crime is given in Art. 1 convention. The act is illegal, with violence or under such threat, or using another form of intimidation to seize an aircraft or exercise control over it, undertaken by any entity on board a ship in flight. This category of crimes also includes an attempt to commit it and complicity in it. The aircraft is considered to be in flight from the moment of closing the external doors after loading to the opening of any of them for unloading. The Convention applies to cases where the place of actual landing or take-off is outside the registration of the aircraft. It will not matter whether the domestic or international flights were made.

The Convention does not restrict states inestablishing responsibility in their own legislation for such crimes. In the Russian Federation, the question of punishment is solved as follows. Responsibility is not conditioned by factors marked by the convention and related to the interaction of countries. It concerns any cases of hijacking or hijacking. In this case, the punishment applies to acts committed not only in flight, but during his stay on the ground. Restrictive clauses set out in the convention do not affect national jurisdiction.

Additionally

Today there is another category -cross-border crime. As a rule, such acts constitute an encroachment that harms the interests of organizations or citizens of different countries. That is, the damage in this case extends beyond the borders of one state. Such a character has recently acquired organized crime.