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1 1 (January 31, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveofb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ______ R a esearch Service International Atrocity Crimes and Their Domestic Counterparts Updated January 31, 2024 Russia's war launched against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the October 7, 2023 attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, and Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza have prompted widespread attention to the legal framework that addresses atrocity crimes. The term atrocity crimes was coined by former U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues David J. Scheffer to describe criminal conduct that is, among other elements, of a significant magnitude, prohibited under conventional international criminal law, and led, in its execution, by a ruling or otherwise powerful elite in society. The United Nations has defined atrocity crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. International law also criminalizes conduct related to these crimes, such as torture and the crime of aggression. Some, but not all, of these criminal offenses have counterparts in the U.S. Criminal Code. The Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section in the Department of Justice (DOJ) is responsible for investigating and prosecuting atrocity crimes and related offenses under U.S. law. This Sidebar describes international atrocity crimes and related offenses, examines their domestic counterparts, and discusses considerations for Congress. Atrocity Crimes and Related Offenses That Have a Domestic Counterpart Genocide The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) recognizes genocide as a crime under international law and obligates state parties to prevent and punish it. The Genocide Convention defines the offense of genocide as the committing of certain acts with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such. The acts that qualify for purposes of establishing genocide are: (1) killing members of the targeted group; (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to the group's members; (3) subjecting the group to conditions of life intended to cause the group's physical destruction; (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or (5) forcibly transferring children of the group. The International Court Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10747 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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