The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative is a rule of law research and advocacy project of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Started in 2008 by Leila Nadya Sadat, the Initiative has as its goals the study of the need for a comprehensive international convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity, the analysis of the necessary elements of such a convention, and the drafting of a proposed treaty. To date, the Initiative has held several experts' meetings and conferences, published a Proposed Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity, and resulted in the publication of an edited volume, Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity, by Cambridge University Press. The draft treaty is now available in seven languages. The UN International Law Commission produced its own, similar, set of Draft Articles on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity, and a proposed treaty is now being debated by governments around the world.
Background on the need for a treaty on Crimes Against Humanity Crimes against humanity, along with crimes against peace and war crimes, were one of the three categories of crimes elaborated upon in the Nuremberg Charter, in response to the grave atrocities committed during the Second World War."International Humanitarian Law - Treaties & Documents", "The International Committee of the Red Cross" Since the establishment of the Nuremberg principles and the adoption of the Genocide Convention, genocide and war crimes have widely been recognized and prohibited in international criminal law."Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights."The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols" International Committee of the Red Cross However, there has never been a comprehensive convention on crimes against humanity,Zgonec-Rožej, Miša (July 2013) "International Criminals: Extradite or Prosecute?" Chatham House, Briefing Papers. p. 16. even though such crimes are continuously perpetrated worldwide in numerous conflicts and crises."Explained: Election Pledge on New Crimes Against Humanity Initiative" AEGIS"International Prosecutors Call for Convention on Crimes Against Humanity" The JuristRichard, Goldstone (2011). "Foreword". In Leila Nadya Sadat. Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity. Cambridge University Press. p. xvi. Consequently, an international convention on crimes against humanity is a key missing element in the current framework of international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and human rights law.Murphy, Sean (February 2013). "Proposal for New Topic: Crimes Against Humanity, Working Group on the Long-Term Program of Work". International Law Commission, Sixty-fifth session. p. 2
Washington University's Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) Initiative represents the first concerted effort to address the gap that exists in international criminal law by enumerating a comprehensive international convention on crimes against humanity.Evans, Gareth, "Crimes Against Humanity and the Responsibility to Protect" International Crisis Group While the Genocide Convention provides a legal framework for prosecuting perpetrators of genocide, and the Geneva Conventions address war crimes, crimes against humanity have yet to be codified. The statutes of the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda each contain different definitions of crimes against humanity,Burns, Peter, "Aspect of Crimes Against Humanity and the International Criminal Court" International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy. p. 6. further demonstrating the need for a comprehensive convention that would both punish perpetrators and prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future.
Leadership The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative is directed by a global Steering Committee of experts and scholars in the field of international criminal law which includes: Professor Leila Nadya Sadat (chairwoman), Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, (in memoriam) Ambassador Hans Corell, Justice Richard Goldstone, Professor Juan E. Méndez, Professor William Schabas and Judge Christine Van Den Wyngaert.
The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative also has a global advisory counsel composed of high-ranking international law and human rights practitioners and scholars from around the world, including Human Rights Policy Fellow at Harvard Law Federica D’Alessandra, Professor Payam Akhavan of McGill University, and Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, former president of the International Criminal Court and present Central and South American Judge to the ICC.
Past work The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative has three primary objectives: (1) to study the law and sociological reality as regards the commission of crimes against humanity; (2) to combat the indifference and the negative legal consequences emergent from the idea that crimes against humanity are less serious than genocide; and (3) to address the gap in the law by elaborating the first-ever comprehensive specialized convention on crimes against humanity. The CAH Initiative is carried out in five phases, four of which have been completed. The first phase was to prepare the project in various aspects, including its methodological development.
Phase two The second phase was to conduct a private study through the writing of papers and expert collaboration. This phase resulted in the production of scholarly papers which contribute to the body of literature on crimes against humanity. Fifteen of these papers, written by leading experts, were presented and discussed at a conference held at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis on April 13–14, 2009. The April Experts' Meeting was the first formal session of the Initiative and was attended by more than forty international experts and academics.Diane Marie Amann, "Go On! Crimes against humanity experts meet" IntLawGrrls This Meeting resulted in a report, which summarized and addressed concerned raised by participants, including the relationship between a crimes against humanity convention and the International Criminal Court, universal jurisdiction, and the relationship to customary international law.April Experts' Meeting Report The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, The Harris Institute
Phase three The third phase of the Initiative resulted in the elaboration and publication of a Proposed International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity in English and French. Nearly 250 experts were consultedSadat, Leila (2011). Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity. Cambridge University Press. p. xix. and the draft of the Proposed Convention underwent seven major revisions.
A Capstone Conference was held in Washington D.C. at the Brookings Institution in 2010. This Conference was co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law, the American National Section of the International Association of Penal Law, and the Brookings Institution. This Conference resulted in a Declaration on the Need for a Comprehensive Convention on Crimes Against Humanity which was signed by all seven members of the Steering Committee and supported by 73 other individuals who were involved in the process, including Ambassador David Scheffer, Silvana Arbia, then Registrar of the ICC, Robert Badinter, David M. Crane, former Prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Benjamin B. Ferencz, a chief prosecutor at the United States Military Tribunals in Nuremberg, Judge O-Gon Kwon, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Judge Daniel Nsereko, International Criminal Court and H.E. Gareth John Evans.Declaration on the Need for a Comprehensive Convention on Crimes Against Humanity Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute
An Experts' Meeting was held in Geneva May 16–17, 2014 at the Villa Moynier. This meeting included international legal experts, governmental officials, diplomats, members of civil society, and many members of the International Law Commission.William A. Schabas, "International Law Commission to Work on Draft Articles on Crimes Against Humanity" PhD studies in human rights These discussions are summarized in a Report published on July 17, 2014."Fulfilling the Dictates of Public Consciences: Moving Forward with a Convention on Crimes Against Humanity Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute
In March 2011, Cambridge University Press published Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity, an edited volume on the work of the Initiative, which contains the text of the Proposed Convention in French and English, a comprehensive history of its drafting, and fifteen expert commentaries from the Expert's Meeting in April 2009. The book received considerable praise and attention, including being awarded the Book of the Year Award by the Association Internationale de Droit Pénal (American Branch). A second edition, with the text of the convention in Spanish and Arabic, was later published.
Proposed Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity The Proposed Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity is a model treaty developed by the Crimes Against Humanity initiative. It contains 27 articles and 6 annexes. Echoing its 1907 forebear, it also contains its own "Martens Clause" in the Preamble."Proposed International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity", The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative The Proposed Convention builds upon and complements the ICC Statute by retaining the Rome Statute definition of crimes against humanity,Amneus, Diana (March 2011)"Insufficient Legal Protection and Access to Justice for Post-Conflict Sexual Violence" Development Dialogue: 86 but has added robust interstate cooperation, extradition, and mutual legal assistance provisions in Annexes 2-6. Universal jurisdiction was retained (but is not mandatory), and the Rome Statute served as a model for several additional provisions, including Articles 4-7 (Responsibility, Official Capacity, Non-Application of Statute of Limitations) and with respect to final clauses. Other provisions draw on international criminal law and human rights instruments more broadly, including the Enforced Disappearance Convention, the Terrorist Bombings Convention, the Convention Against Torture, the UN Conventions on Corruption and Organized Crime, the European Transfer of Proceedings Convention, and the Inter-American Criminal Sentences Convention. The Proposed Convention provides for State as well as individual responsibility, and would vest jurisdiction in the International Court of Justice to resolve differences as to interpretation and application of the Proposed Convention.
Phase four The fourth phase included the promotion of the Proposed Convention as part of a broader global awareness campaign and assistance to the U.N. International Law Commission's work on drafting articles on crimes against humanity. In this phase, the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative aimed to raise global awareness of the need for an international convention on crimes against humanity, and to encourage the international community to adopt the Proposed Convention. The CAH Initiative has completed translations of the Proposed Convention in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, German, Chinese, and Portuguese, in order to widen the reach of the Initiative and the Proposed Convention.