What is the difference between war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide?

In Ukraine they fear that the Bucha massacre will be repeated 1:11 (CNN Spanish) — The terrible images of the bodies of civilians found in Bucha after the Ukrainian forces retook control of this city on the outskirts of Kyiv, after a month from being under the power of Russia, they have gone around the world. This Tuesday, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, asked the UN Security Council to try members of the Russian Army and “those who gave them orders” to carry out attacks in Ukraine for “war crimes”. In this sense, he proposed that all Russians who have given “criminal orders” and “executed them by killing our people” be brought before a court, similar to the Nuremberg trials that took place after World War II, when to the Nazis. But, just two days earlier, Zelensky also said: “This is genocide. “This is the elimination of an entire nation and its people,” during the CBS News program “Face the Nation.” For his part, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, described the events as a “war crime” and added that it is not a genocide, in statements to journalists on Monday, while the Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, said the images were a “provocation” and a “hoax” by the Ukrainian government Bucha, massacred by passing Russian forces 2:13CNN has not been able to independently confirm details surrounding the deaths of the civilians in Bucha. What, then, are the differences between war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide? And, which of all could be applied to these acts? What constitutes genocide? The international community has a clear definition of genocide since 1951, when it came into force nces the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. According to this document, signed by 152 countries –including the United States and Russia–, genocide is understood as “acts (…) perpetrated with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious.” The Convention then details these acts: Killing members of the group. Serious injury to the physical or mental integrity of the members of the group. Intentional submission of the group to conditions of existence that will lead to its total or partial physical destruction. Measures aimed at preventing births within the group. Forced transfer of children from the group to another group. Children after the liberation of the extermination camp set up by the Nazis at Auschwitz, in 1945. (Credit: AP) It also points out that the following acts will be punished: Genocide. The association to commit genocide. Direct and public incitement to commit genocide. The attempted genocide. complicity in genocide. Who can judge acts of genocide? When have they been judged? This definition of genocide was adopted by the 1998 Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague, the Netherlands. The ICC is the main arena where the crime of genocide can be tried. But, contrary to the broad acceptance of the Convention, only 123 countries have signed the Rome Statute, and among those missing — which do not recognize the court — are the United States, Russia, China and Israel, among others. In the past, crimes of genocide –as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity– were tried in special UN tribunals, as is the case in Nuremberg, Tokyo, Yugoslavia and Rwanda. What are war crimes? The ICC is also in charge of prosecuting war crimes, which it defines as follows: “War crimes include serious breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in conflicts ‘without character international law’ listed in the Rome Statute, when committed as part of a plan or policy or on a large scale,” says the ICC. The International Criminal Court in The Hague. (Credit: Frank van Beek/ICJ via Getty Images) Thus, 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. , such as: Murder. Mutilation, cruel treatment and torture. Hostage taking. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population. Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historical monuments or hospitals. Pillage. Rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy or any other form of sexual violence. Recruitment or enlistment of children under the age of 15 into armed forces or groups or using them to actively participate in hostilities. “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 are crimes against humanity? Crimes against humanity are the most difficult to define and prove, and at the moment there are no international treaties dedicated exclusively to them. The controversy over the Armenian genocide The UN points out that for many the term was used for the first time to describe the atrocities perpetrated by European countries in Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries, although others point to a 1915 declaration by the allied powers to refer to the slaughter of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. Although there is no treaty dedicated to crimes against humanity, the Rome Statute places them within the jurisdiction of the ICC and describes them as “any of the following acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack”, and offers this list: Murder. Extermination. enslavement. Deportation or forced transfer of population. Imprisonment. Torture. Rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity. Persecution against an identifiable group for political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender reasons. The forced disappearance of people. The crime of apartheid. Other inhumane acts of a similar nature intentionally causing great suffering or serious bodily or mental harm.