List of war crimes

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This article lists and summarizes War Crimes committed since the Hague Conventions of 1907. In addition, those incidents which have been judged in a court of law to be Crimes Against Peace and Crimes against Humanity that have been committed since these crimes were first defined (in the London Charter, August 8, 1945) are also included.[1]

Since many war crimes are not ultimately prosecuted (due to lack of political will, lack of effective procedures, or other practical and political reasons[2]), historians and lawyers will often make a serious case that war crimes occurred, even if there was no formal investigations or prosecution of the alleged crimes or an investigation cleared the alleged perpetrators.

War crimes under international law were firmly established by the 1945 Nuremberg Major War Crimes Trials, in which German leaders were prosecuted for war crimes committed during World War II. For purpose of selectivity, only war crimes since the customary laws of war were clarified in the Hague Conventions of 1907 are included, because in the judgement at the Major War Crimes Trial in Nuremberg in 1945, it was stated that "by 1939 these rules laid down in the Hague Convention of 1907 were recognised by all civilised nations, and were regarded as being declaratory of the laws and customs of war".[3]

Contents

[edit] World War I

[edit] Turkish perpetrated crimes

Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Armenian Genocide[4] Crimes against humanity (so called in a joint statement issued by the major Allied powers in 1915)[4] The post-World War I Turkish Government indicted the top leaders involved and the officials of the Young Turk Regime were tried and convicted, as charged, for organizing and executing massacres against the Armenian people. The chief organizers were the Minister of War Enver, the Minister of the Interior Talaat, and the Minister of the Navy Jemal were all condemned to death for their crimes, however, the verdicts of the courts were not enforced.[4] On 15 September 2005 a United States Congressional resolution stated that "The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year presence of Armenians in their historic homeland."[4]

[edit] German perpetrated crimes

Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
German atrocities About 6000 civilians were killed in Belgium and France in August 1914[5] War crimes according to definition of Articles 46, 50, 52, and 56 of The Hague Convention of 1907, which was in use at that time, and to the current criteria defining a war crime, these fact must be regarded as war crimes. Deliberate destruction of civilian buildings (e.g. the Leuven University Library) also occurred. The responsible was the German army or troops belonging to the German army. However, the German Government never acknowledged publicly the fact, although the clause 232 of the Versailles Treaty provides that Germany will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied. There has never been official acknowledgement of the facts by the German Governments and no trial has been made for this

[edit] 1935-1936: Second Italo-Abyssinian War

Armed conflict perpetrator
Second Italo-Abyssinian War Italy
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Italian use of mustard gas against enemy soldiers and civilians. Contravention of the 1925 Geneva Protocol[citation needed]. Top commanding officer Gen. Pietro Badoglio indicted but never tried in court[citation needed]. Invasion of Ethiopia and Somalia by Italy under Benito Mussolini.

[edit] 1937-1945: Second Sino-Japanese War

This section includes war crimes until 8 December 1941 when the United States declared war on Japan so entering World War II. For war crimes after this date see the section called World War II: Japan perpetrated crimes.

Armed conflict perpetrator
Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) Japan
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Nanjing Massacre,[6] China, 1937-38 Mass murder of civilian population, rape, looting General Asaka Yasuhiko, commander, Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Force, Imperial Japanese Army. General Iwane Matsui, Commanding general of Japanese forces in China, Imperial Japanese Army. Minister of War Hideki Tojo. Debate still is ongoing as to the culpability of Emperor Hirohito in the events.

After the Battle of Nanking, on 13 December, 1937, Japanese entered the city virtually resistance free. From then for a period of about 6 weeks after, until early February 1938, widespread war crimes were committed including mass rape, looting, arson, the killing of civilians and prisoners of war.
Changjiao massacre,China, 1943 Mass murder of civilian population, rape, looting General Shunroku Hata, commander, China Expeditionary Army , Imperial Japanese Army. war crimes were committed including mass rape, looting, arson, the killing of civilians and prisoners of war.

[edit] 1939-1945 World War II

[edit] Axis powers (listed by country)

[edit] Italian perpetrated crimes

[edit] German perpetrated crimes

According to the Nuremberg Trials, there were four major war crimes that were alleged against German military (and Waffen-SS and NSDAP) men and officers, each with individual events that made up the major charges.

1. Participation in a common plan of conspiracy for the accomplishment of crimes against peace

2. Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace

3. War Crimes These were limited to atrocities against combatants or conventional crimes committed by military units(see War crimes of the Wehrmacht), and include:

4. Crimes against Humanity These were crimes that were committed well away from the lines of battle and were unconnected in any way to military activity.

Other crimes against humanity included:

  • The Porajmos, the Nazi pogrom against the Romany peoples of Europe
  • The Łapanka or "Catching Game," -- Nazi roundups of Poles in the major cities for slave labor and other purposes
  • Nikolaev Massacre
  • Operation Tannenberg, the AB Action and the Massacre of Lwów professors, all Nazi actions in Poland meant to mass murder the Polish intelligentsia and other potential leaders of resistance.
  • The Nazi T-4 Euthanasia Program, an aborted eugenics program meant to kill German children who were mentally or physically handicapped. 200,000 people were gassed to death due to this program.

Well over 10 million people were systematically killed by the Nazi regime (Some accountings place the figure at over 20 million) from crimes against humanity, in particular the Holocaust. Of this figure, the largest amount of deaths happened among the Jews. The common estimate is that 5 to 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, although a complete count may never be known. After the war, the Nazi regime was put on trial in two tribunals in Nuremberg, Germany by the victorious Allied powers from 1945 to 1949. The first tribunal indicted 24 major Nazi war criminals, and resulted in 19 convictions (of which 12 led to death sentences) and 3 acquittals. The second tribunal indicted 185 members of the military, economic, and political leadership of Nazi Germany, of which 142 were convicted and 35 were acquitted. In subsequent decades, approximately 20 additional war criminals who escaped capture in the immediate aftermath of World War II were tried in West Germany and Israel. In Germany and many other European nations, the Nazi Party is outlawed.

[edit] Hungarian perpetrated crimes

Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Ip massacre [citation needed] [citation needed]
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Treznea massacre [citation needed] [citation needed]
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[edit] Japanese perpetrated crimes

Main article: Japanese war crimes

This section includes war crimes from 8 December 1941 when the United States declared war on Japan so entering World War II. For war crimes before this date which took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War please see the section above called 1937-1945: Second Sino-Japanese War.

Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
World War II Crimes against peace Were tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Banka Island Massacre,[7] Dutch East Indies, 1942 [citation needed]  ? The merchant ship Vyner Brooke was sunk by Japanese aircraft. The survivors who made it to Banka Island were all shot or bayonetted. One nurse Vivian Bullwinkel survived the massacre and later testified at a war crimes trial in Tokyo in 1947[8]
Bataan Death March,[9] Philippines, 1942[10] Torture and Murder of POWs General Masaharu Homma was convicted by an Allied commission of war crimes, including the atrocities of the death march out of Bataan, and the atrocities at Camp O'Donnell and Cabanatuan that followed. He was executed on April 3, 1946 outside Manila. Approximately 75,000 Filipino and US soldiers, commanded by Major General Edward P. King, Jr. formally surrendered to the Japanese, under General Masaharu Homma, on April 9, 1942, which forced Japan to accept emaciated captives outnumbering them. Captives were forced to march, beginning the next day, about 100 kilometers north to Nueva Ecija to Camp O'Donnell, a prison camp. Prisoners of war were beaten randomly and denied food and water for several days. Those who fell behind were executed through various means: shot, beheaded or bayoneted. Deaths estimated at 650-1,500 U.S. and 2,000 to over 5,000 Filipino-,[4]
Parit Sulong massacre,[11] Malaysia, 1942 Murder of POWs Lieutenant General Takuma Nishimura, was convicted for this crime by an Australian Military Court and hanged on June 11, 1951.[12] Recently captured Australian and Indian POWs, who had been too badly wounded to escape through the jungle, were murdered by Japanese soldiers. Accounts differ on how they were killed. Two wounded Australians managed to escape the massacre and provide eyewitness accounts of the Japanese treatment of wounded prisoners of war, as did locals who witnessed the massacre. Official records indicate that 150 wounded men were killed.
Laha massacre,[13] 1942 [citation needed] In 1946, the Laha massacre and other incidents which followed the fall of Ambon became the subject of the largest ever war crimes trial, when 93 Japanese personnel were tried by an Australian tribunal, at Ambon. Among other convictions, four men were executed as a result. An SNLF Captain, Kunito Hatakeyama, who was in direct command of the four massacres, was hanged; Rear Admiral Koichiro Hatakeyama, who was found to have ordered the killings, died before he could be tried.[14] After the battle Battle of Ambon, more than 300 Australian, Dutch (and probably US) prisoners of war were chosen at random and summarily executed, at or near Laha airfield in four separate massacres. "The Laha massacre was the largest of the atrocities committed against captured Allied troops in 1942.".[15]
Alexandra Hospital massacre, Battle of Singapore, 1942 . At about 1pm on February 14, Japanese soldiers approached Alexandra Barracks Hospital. Although no resistance was offered, some of them shot or bayoneted staff members and patients. More staff and patients were murdered over the next two days.[16]
Sook Ching Massacre, 1942 In 1947, the British Colonial authorities in Singapore held a war crimes trial to bring the perpetrators to justice. Seven officers, were charged with carrying out the massacre. While Lieutenant General Saburo Kawamura, Lieutenant Colonel Masayuki Oishi received the death penalty, the other five received life sentences The massacre was a systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore by the Japanese military administration during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, after the British colony surrendered in the Battle of Singapore on 15 February 1942.
Manila Massacre Tomoyuki Yamashita As commander of the 14th Area Army in the Philippines, Gen. Yamashita failed to stop his troops from killing over 100,000 Filipino citizens of Manila during the fighting with both native resistance forces and elements of the US Sixth Army during the capture of the city in February, 1945. Yamashita pleaded inability to act and lack of knowledge of the massacre, due to his commanding other operations int the area. The defense failed, establishing the Yamashita Standard, which holds that a commander who makes no meaningful effort to uncover and stop atrocities is as culpable as if he had ordered them.
Unit 100
Unit 731 12 members of the Kantogun were found guilty for the manufacture and use of biological weapons. Including: General Yamada Otsuzo, former Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army and Major General Kawashima Kiyoshi, former Chief of Unit 731. The Soviet Union tried some members of Unit 731 at the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials. However those who surrendered to the Americans were never brought to trial as General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731 in exchange for providing America with their research on biological weapons[citation needed].
Unit 8604 [citation needed] [citation needed]
Unit 9420 [citation needed] [citation needed]
Unit Ei 1644[17] [citation needed] [citation needed] Unit 1644 conducted tests to determine human susceptibility to a variety of harmful stimuli ranging from infectious diseases to poison gas. It was the largest germ experimentation center in China. Unit 1644 regularly carried out human vivisections as well as infecting humans with cholera, typhus, and bubonic plague.
construction of Burma-Thai Railway, the "Death Railway" [citation needed] [citation needed]
Comfort Women [citation needed] [citation needed] Women were forced to work in Japanese military brothels.
Sandakan Death Marches Three Allied POWs survived to give evidence at war crimes trials in Tokyo and Rabaul. Hokijima was found guilty and hanged on April 6, 1946[citation needed] [citation needed]
War Crimes in Manchukuo [citation needed]
War Crimes in the Pacific [citation needed]
War Crimes in Asia Mainland [citation needed]
Kaimingye germ weapon attack [citation needed] [citation needed] These alleged attacks were a joint Unit 731 and Unit Ei 1644 endeavor.
Alleged Changteh Chemical Weapon Attack April and May, 1943 [citation needed] [citation needed] Alleged Chemical weapons supplied by Unit 516.

[edit] Romanian perpetrated crimes

Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Iasi pogrom [citation needed] [citation needed]
Odessa massacre [citation needed] [citation needed]

[edit] Allied powers (listed by country)

Main article Allied war crimes

[edit] Soviet Union perpetrated crimes

Concurrent with World War II
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Katyń massacre Murder of Polish POWs Lavrenty Beria, Joseph Stalin A KGB-committed massacre of tens of thousands of Polish officers and intelligentsia throughout the spring of 1940. Originally believed to have been committed by the Nazis in 1941 (after the invasion of eastern Poland and the USSR), it was finally admitted by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 that it had been a Soviet operation.
World War II
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Nemmersdorf, East Prussia Alleged pillage, and rape and murder of civilians, in contravention of Hague Conventions of 1907 "IV - The Laws and Customs of War on Land"[18] Articles: 28,43,46,47,50[citation needed] No prosecutions[citation needed] Nemmersdorf (today Mayakovskoye in Kaliningrad) was one of the first German settlements to fall to the advancing Red Army on October 22, 1944. It was recaptured by the Germans soon afterwards and the German authorities reported that the Red Army killed civilians there. Nazi propaganda widely disseminated the description of the event with horrible details, supposedly to boost the determination of German soldiers to resist the general Soviet advance. Because the incident was investigated by the Nazis and reports were disseminated as Nazi propaganda, discerning the facts from the fiction of the incident is difficult.
occupation of East Prussia Alleged war crimes in contravention of Hague Conventions of 1907 "IV - The Laws and Customs of War on Land"[18] [citation needed] War crimes committed by Soviet troops in the areas of Germany occupied by the Red Army. Estimated number of civilian victims in the years 1944-46: at least 300.000 (but not all of them victims of war crimes, many died through starvation, the cold climate and diseases[19][20][21]
Treuenbrietzen Murder of German civilians Following the capture of the German city of Treuenbrietzen after fierce fighting. Over a period of several days at the end of April and beginning of May roughly 1000 inhabitants of the city, most of them men, were executed by Soviet troops.[22]
Battle of Berlin Mass rape[23]
Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles [citation needed]
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Evacuation of Manchukuo [citation needed]
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[edit] United Kingdom perpetrated crimes

Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Unrestricted submarine warfare against merchant shipping Breach of London Naval Treaty(1930) no prosecutions It was the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trials of Karl Dönitz that Britain had been in breach of the Treaty "in particular of an order of the British Admiralty announced on the 8 May, 1940, according to which all vessels should be sunk at sight in the Skagerrak"[24]

[edit] United States perpetrated crimes

Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Unrestricted submarine warfare against merchant shipping Breach of London Naval Treaty (1930) no prosecutions During the post war Nuremberg Trials, in evidence presented at the trial of Karl Dönitz on his orders to the U-boat fleet to breach the London Rules, Admiral Chester Nimitz stated that unrestricted submarine warfare was carried on in the Pacific Ocean by the United States from the first day that nation entered the war.[24]
Canicatti slaughter Murder of civilians no prosecutions During the Allied invasion of Sicily, at least a dozen unarmed Italian civilians, including six children, were killed by U.S. military policemen. The incident was covered up fearing that it would lead to reprisals from the civilian population. See the article for citations
Biscari massacre Murder of POWs Sergeant Horace T. West: court-martialed and was found guilty, stripped of rank and sentenced to life in prison, though he was later released as a private. Captain John T. Compton was court-martialed for killing 40 POWs in his charge. He claimed to be following orders. The investigating officer and the Judge Advocate declared that Compton's actions were unlawful, but he was acquitted. Following the capture of Biscari Airfield in Sicily on July 14, 1943, seventy-six German and Italian POWs were shot by American troops of the 180th Regimental Combat Team, 45th Division during the Allied invasion of Sicily. These killings occurred in two separate incidents between July and August 1943.
Dachau massacre Murder of POWs [citation needed]
Post World War II
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Salina, Utah POW massacre Murder of POWs Private Clarence V. Bertucci determined to be insane and confined to a mental institution Private Clarence V. Bertucci fired a machine gun from one of the guard towers into the tents that were being used to accommodate the German prisoners of war. Nine were killed and 20 were injured.
Rheinwiesenlager[25] Deaths of POWs no prosecutions The Rheinwiesenlager (Rhine meadow camps) were transit camps for millions of German POWs after World War II. There were at least thousands of deaths, dying mostly from starvation and exposure. These estimates range from just over 3.000 to as many as 71.000.

[edit] Yugoslavian partisans perpetrated crimes

Armed conflict perpetrator
Yugoslavia campaign Yugoslavian partisans
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Foibe massacres Murder of prisoners of war and civilians [citation needed] Following Italy's 1943 armistice with the Allied powers, Yugoslavian resistance forces executed an estimated 1,300-1,600 Italian troops and ethnic Italians living in Slovenian/Croatian territories adjacent to Italy.[26]
Bleiburg massacre Murder of prisoners of war and civilians [citation needed] The victims were Croatian soldiers and civilians (as well as a number of Chetniks), executed without trial as an act of vengeance for the crimes committed by the pro-Axis Ustaše regime in Croatian-controlled territories during World War II[27]

[edit] 1968-1973: Vietnam War

Armed conflict perpetrator
Vietnam War United States
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
My Lai Massacre Murder of civilians Lt. William Calley convicted in 1971 of premeditated murder of 22 civilians for his role in the massacre and sentenced to life in prison. He served 3½ years under house arrest. In March, 1968, a US army platoon led by Lt. William Calley killed (and in some cass raped) hundreds of civilians – primarily women, children, and old men – in the village of My Lai. 26 US soldiers, including 14 officers, were charged with crimes related to the My Lai massacre and its coverup. Most of the charges were eventually dropped, and only Lt. Calley was convicted.
Operation Ranch Hand Use of chemical weapon on civilians
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • "Vietnam War Crimes Working Group Files" - Briefly declassified (1994) and subsequently reclassified (2002?) documentary evidence compiled by a Pentagon task force detailing endemic war crimes. Substantiating 320 incidents by Army investigators, including seven massacres from 1967 through 1971 in which at least 137 civilians died (not including My Lai). Seventy-eight other attacks on noncombatants in which at least 57 were killed, 56 wounded and 15 sexually assaulted. One hundred forty-one instances in which U.S. soldiers tortured civilian detainees or prisoners of war.

[edit] North Vietnam

North Vietnam:

  • North Vietnamese troops executed 2500 civilians while occupying the city of Hue in 1968. An additional 3500 people are suspected to have been executed, but never found. See: Massacre at Huế.
  • U.S. Prisoners of war held at the so-called "Hanoi Hilton" were subject to torture and other mistreatment by their North Vietnamese captors.[citation needed]
  • Thousands of South Vietnamese perished in the concentration or "re-education" camps shortly after the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City)

[edit] 1971: Bangladesh War

Armed conflict perpetrator
1971 Bangladesh War Pakistan
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
1971 Bangladesh atrocities Allegedly the Pakistan Government, and the Pakistan Army and its local collaborators. A case was filed in the Federal Court of Australia on September 20, 2006 for crimes of Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.[5] During the Bangladesh War of 1971, widespread atrocities were committed against the Bengali population of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), at a level that within Bangladesh, ‘genocide’ is the term that is still used to describe the event in almost every major publication and newspaper.[28][29] Although and the word ‘genocide’ was and is still used frequently amongst observers and scholars of the events that transpired during the 1971 war, the allegations that a genocide took place during the Bangladesh War of 1971 were never investigated by an international tribunal set up under the auspices of the United Nations, so the alleged genocide is not recognised as a genocide under international law.
Civilian Casualties The number of civilians that died in the liberation war of Bangladesh is not known in any reliable accuracy. There has been a great disparity in the casualty figures put forth by Pakistan on one hand (26,000, as reported in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission[30]) and India and Bangladesh on the other hand (From 1972 to 1975 the first post-war prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, mentioned that 3 million died on a dozen occasions[31]).
Atrocities on women and minorities The minorities of Bangladesh, especially the Hindus, were specific targets of the Pakistan army.[32] Numerous East Pakistani women were tortured, raped and killed during the war. The exact numbers are not known and are a subject of debate. Bangladeshi sources cite a figure of 200,000 women raped, giving birth to thousands of war-babies. Some other sources, for example Susan Brownmiller, refer to an even higher number of over 400,000. Pakistani sources claim the number is much lower, though having not completely denied rape incidents.[33][34][35]
Killing of intellectuals During the war, the Pakistan Army and its local collaborators carried out a systematic execution of the leading Bengali intellectuals. A number of university professors from Dhaka University were killed during the first few days of the war.[36][37] However, the most extreme cases of targeted killing of intellectuals took place during the last few days of the war. On December 14, 1971, only two days before surrendering to the Indian military and the Mukhti Bahini forces, the Pakistani army – with the assistance of the Al Badr and Al Shams – systematically executed well over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals and scholars.[38][39]

[edit] Cambodian civil war 1970-1994

Khmer Rouge killed many persons due to political affiliation, education, class origin, occupation, and ethnicity. 12

[edit] Lao civil war 1960-1975

Murder of the royal family and people associated with the former government in re-education camps.[citation needed]

[edit] 1980-1988: Iran-Iraq War

Armed conflict perpetrator
Iran-Iraq War Iraq
Incident type of crime Persons responsibe Notes
Waging a war of aggression [citation needed] Iraqi Government In 1980, Iraq invaded neighboring Iran, allegedly to capture Iraqi territory held by Iran.
Use of chemical weapons Violation of 1925 Geneva Protocol[6] Iraq made extensive use of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and nerve agents such as tabun. Iraqi chemical weapons were responsible for over 100,000 Iranian casualties (including 20,000 deaths).[40]
Attacks against parties not involved in the war [citation needed] Iraq attacked oil tankers from neutral nations in an attempt to disrupt enemy trade
Halabja poison gas attack Dutch court has ruled that the incident involved War Crimes and Genocide. To date no prosecutions of Iraqi nationals.
Frans van Anraat war crime.		 Iraq also used chemical weapons against their own Kurdish population causing casualties estimated between several hundred up to 5,000 deaths[7]. On December 23, 2005 a Dutch court ruled in a case brought against Frans van Anraat for supplying chemicals to Iraq, that "[it] thinks and considers legally and convincingly proven that the Kurdish population meets the requirement under the genocide conventions as an ethnic group. The court has no other conclusion that these attacks were committed with the intent to destroy the Kurdish population of Iraq." and because he supplied the chemicals before 16 March 1988, the date of the Halabja attack, he is guilty of a war crime but not guilty of complicity in genocide.[41][42]
Armed conflict perpetrator
Iran-Iraq War Iran
Incident type of crime Persons responsibe Notes
Attacks against parties not involved in the war [citation needed] Iran attacked oil tankers from neutral nations in an attempt to disrupt enemy trade.
Laid mines in international waters [citation needed] Mines damaged the US frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts

[edit] Circa 1985-: Lord's Resistance Army v. Ugandan Government (kidnap, rape, and forced murder involving children)

  • 20 years warfare
  • The Times reports (Nov 26 2005 p.27):
Almost 20 years of fighting... has killed half a million people. Many of the dead are children... The LRA [a cannibalism cult][43] kidnaps children and forces them to join its ranks. And so, incredibly, children are not only the main victims of this war, but also its unwilling perpetrators... The girls told me they had been given to rebel commanders as "wives" and forced to bear them children. The boys said they had been forced to walk for days knowing they would be killed if they showed any weakness, and in some cases forced even to murder their family members... every night up to 10,000 children walk into the centre of Kitgum... because they are not safe in their own beds... more than 25,000 children have been kidnapped ...this year an average of 20 children have been abducted every week.

[edit] Sabra and Shatila massacre 1982

[edit] 1991-1999 Yugoslav Wars

[edit] Croatian War of Independence 1991-1995

Armed conflict perpetrator
Croatian War of Independence Yugoslav People's Army, Army of RSK and Serb paramilitary units.
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Borovo Selo killings Murders of 12 Croatian policemen on 2 May 1991, followed by putting their bodies on display Serb paramilitary units commanded by Vojislav Šešelj. Šešelj is on trial at ICTY.
Battle of Vukovar Almost 2000 soldiers and civilians killed in ruthless shellings of civilian targets, including hospitals. JNA and Serb paramilitary units. Several JNA commanders indicted, including commander Veselin Šljivančanin.
Vukovar massacre Over 200 civilians and wounded POWs executed after Battle of Vukovar on 18 November 1991. JNA and Serb paramilitary units. Dozens of commanders and soldiers convicted by ICTY and Croatian courts. Several JNA commanders charged, including commander Veselin Šljivančanin. Civilians and wounded POWs buried in mass graves at Ovčara.
Siege of Dubrovnik Shelling of civilian targets that killed almost 90 civilians JNA and Montenegro territorial forces. Several JNA commanders sentenced. Shelling of UNESCO protected World Heritage site.
Škabrnja massacre Massacre of 86 civilians and POWs. Serb forces. Milan Babić and Milan Martić indicted.
Voćin massacre Massacre of 60 civilians. White Eagles (paramilitary) group. Vojislav Šešelj indicted.
Ethnic cleansing in Republic of Serb Krajina Expulsion of almost 78'000 people with looting, rapes and murders. JNA and Serb paramilitaries. Many people, including leaders Milan Babić and Milan Martić, convicted at ICTY and Croatian courts.
Zagreb rocket attack Shelling of civilian targets in 1995 that killed 6 and wounded at least 175. RSK Serb forces. Leader Milan Martić bragged on Television about ordering the assault, the videotape being used against him at ICTY. Rocket attack was started as revenge for Serb military defeat in Operation Flash.
Armed conflict perpetrator
Croatian War of Independence Croatian Army and paramilitary units
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Lora prison camp Torture of POWs Croatian army. Several people convicted by Croatian courts.
Gospić massacre Killings of about 100 civilians Croatian army. Commander Mirko Norac and others convicted by Croatian courts.

[edit] Bosnian War 1992-1995

Armed conflict perpetrator
Bosnian War Army of Republika Srpska, Paramilitary units from Serbia, local serb police and civilians.
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Srebrenica Massacre Murder of 8,200 Bosniak men and boys Army of Republika Srpska Following the fall of the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica the men were separated from the women and executed over a period of several days in July 1995.
Markale massacres Murder of civilians Army of Republika Srpska The victims were civilians who were shopping in an open air market in Sarajevo when Serb forces shelled the market. Two separate incidents. Feb 1994; 68 killed and 144 wounded and August 1995; 37 killed and 90 wounded.
Tuzla massacre Murder of 72 and wounding of more than 200 civilians Army of Republika Srpska On May 25, 1995 the Serb army shelled the city of Tuzla and killed 72 people with a single shell.
Koricani Cliffs massacre More than 200 men executed. Serbian reserve police. Darko Mrdja was convicted.
Ahatovići massacre 64 men and boys tortured, 56 killed. Bosnian Serb Army. Rounded up in an attack on a village, they were tortured. Claiming they were going to be exchanged, Serb forces put them on a bus, which they attacked with machineguns and granades on June 14, 1992. 8 survived by hiding under bodies of the dead.
Armed conflict perpetrator
Bosnian War Croatian Defence Council.
Incident type of crime Persons responsible -
Ahmići Murder of 116 civilians in the village of Ahmići Croatian Defence Council On April 16, 1993 the Croatian Defence Council attacked the village of Ahmici and killed 116 Bosniaks.
Stupni Do Murder of civilians in the village of Stupni Do Croatian Defence Council On October 23, 1993 the Croatian Defence Council attacked the village of Stupni do and killed 37 Bosniaks.
Armed conflict perpetrator
Bosnian War Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Incident type of crime Persons responsible -
Maljine/Bikoši Shooting of 30 Croatian civilians. Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina On June 8, 1993 civilans were rounded up and shot.
Uzdol Murder of 41 Croatian civilians and POWs. Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina On September 14, 1993 29 civilans and 12 POWs were taken during a morning attack on a Croatian village, then killed. Women and children were among the dead.

[edit] Kosovo War 1999

Armed conflict perpetrator
Kosovo War Serbian Army, Paramilitary units from Serbia, local Serb police and civilians.
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo Expulsion several thousand people with looting, rapes and murders. Serb military and paramilitary forces. Many people convicted at ICTY courts.
Račak massacre Murder of 45 Albanian civilians. Yugoslav military and paramilitary forces.

[edit] 1990-2000: Liberia / Sierra Leone

From The Times March 28 2006 p.43:

"Charles Taylor, the former Liberian President who is one of Africas most wanted men, has gone into hiding in Nigeria to avoid extradition to a UN war crimes trimbunal... The UN war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone holds Mr Taylor responsible for about 250,000 deaths. Throughout the 1990s, his armies and supporters, made up of child soldiers orphaned by the conflict wreaked havoc through a swath of West Africa. In Sierra Leone he supported the revolutionary United Front whose rebel fighters were notorious for hacking off the limbs of civilians.
  • Current action - Indicted on 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN, which has issued an international warrant for his arrest. As of April 2006 located, extradited, and facing trial.

[edit] 1990: Invasion of Kuwait

Armed conflict perpetrator
1990:Invasion of Kuwait Iraq
Incident type of crime Persons responsible Notes
Invasion of Kuwait "breach of international peace and security" (UN Security Council Resolution 660) Iraqi Government
Looting, raping and killing of civilians in Kuwait [citation needed] country devastated, resources wantonly destroyed
Highway of Death Killing of Civilians and use of illegal weaponry [44]

[edit] 1991: U.S.-led Gulf War

US-led allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq's water supply during the Gulf War in 1991 and took measures to make sure they were not rebuilt, in violation of the Geneva Convention and causing thousands of civilian deaths. (Sunday Herald (Scotland) September 17, 2000, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/091700-01.htm; http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/declassdocs/dia/19950901/950901_511rept_91.html) No U.S. officials have been prosecuted or reprimanded.

See the Amiriyah shelter raid.

[edit] 1998-2006: Second Congo War

See also: Cases before the International Criminal Court#Democratic Republic of Congo

  • Civil war 1998-2002, est. 4 million deaths; war "sucked in" Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia, as well as 17,000 United Nations peacekeepers, its "largest and most costly" peace mission and "the bloodiest conflict since the end of the Second World War."
  • Fighting involves Mai-Mai militia and Congolese government soldiers. The Government originally armed the Mai-Mai as civil defence against external invaders, who then turned to banditry.
  • 100,000 refugees living in remote disease ridden areas to avoid both sides
  • Estimated 1000 deaths a day according to Oxfam:
"The army attacks the local population as it passes through, often raping and pillaging like the militias. Those who resist are branded Mai-mai supporters and face detention or death. The Mai-mai accuse the villagers of collaborating with the army, they return to the villages at night and extract revenge. Sometimes they march the villagers into the bush to work as human mules."

(Source: The Times World News, April 3 2006, p.29)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ This list is a work in progress and is not complete
  2. ^ Comemnt by The Times, November 21 2006 p.17, in relation to Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Congo: "There was nothing funny about his soldiers' actions in Eastern Congo... Among the crimes alleged are mass murder, rape and acts of cannibalism. Yet one senior UN diplomat has indicated privately that for the sake of peace, the investigation [by the International Criminal Court] into Bemba's responsibility may be sidelined. It isn't just in Congo that trade-offs are being made. [...] Skeptics point out that those who have stood trial so far have either been defeated in war or are retired and irrelevant. They insist there would be no chance of hauling powerful political figures in Washington and london before a court to answer for their actions..."
  3. ^ Jugement: The Law Relating to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
  4. ^ a b c d 1915 Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution (Introduced in House of Representatives) 109th Congress, 1st Session, H.RES.316, June 14, 2005. 15 September 2005 House Committee/Subcommittee:International Relations actions. Status: Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 40 - 7.
  5. ^ John N. Horne und Alan Kramer, Hrsg. German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial
  6. ^ References in the article
  7. ^ References in the article
  8. ^ Banka Island Massacre (1942)
  9. ^ References in the article
  10. ^ References in the article
  11. ^ References in the article
  12. ^ http://www.thisisfolkestone.co.uk/ms/info/massacresinthepacific.htm
  13. ^ References in the article
  14. ^ Fall of Ambon Massacred at Laha
  15. ^ Dr Peter Stanley The defence of the 'Malay barrier': Rabaul and Ambon, January 1942 principal historian to Australian War Memorial
  16. ^ Alexandra Massacre. Retrieved on December 7, 2005.
  17. ^ References in the article
  18. ^ a b IV - The Laws and Customs of War on Land in the Avalon Project at Yale Law School
  19. ^ Excerpt, Chapter one The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945-2002 - William I. Hitchcock - 2003 - ISBN 0-385-49798-9 (No pages cited)
  20. ^ A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950 - Alfred-Maurice de Zayas - 1994 - ISBN 0-312-12159-8 (No pages cited)
  21. ^ Barefoot in the Rubble - Elizabeth B. Walter - 1997 - ISBN 0-9657793-0-0 (No pages cited)
  22. ^ Claus-Dieter Steyer, "Stadt ohne Männer" (City without men) , Der Tagesspiegel online June 21 2006 , viewed November 11 2006 at [1]
  23. ^ Antony Beevor They raped every German female from eight to 80 in The Guardian May 1, 2002
  24. ^ a b Judgement : Doenitz the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School
  25. ^ U.S. (and French) abuse of German PoWs, 1945-1948
  26. ^ see the article Foibe massacres, (lots of references but no citations)
  27. ^ Words from the article Bleiburg massacre, (lots of references no citations)
  28. ^ Editorial The Jamaat Talks Backin The Bangladesh Observer December 30, 2005
  29. ^ Dr. N. Rabbee Remembering a Martyr Star weekend Magazine, The [[Daily Star (Bangladesh)|]] December 16, 2005
  30. ^ Hamoodur Rahman Commission, Chapter 2, Paragraph 33
  31. ^ F. Hossain Genocide 1971 Correspondence with the Guinness Book of Records on the number of dead
  32. ^ U.S. Consulate (Dacca) Cable, Sitrep: Army Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere, March 31, 1971, Confidential, 3 pp
  33. ^ Debasish Roy Chowdhury 'Indians are bastards anyway' in Asia Times June 23, 2005 "In Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Susan Brownmiller likens it to the Japanese rapes in Nanjing and German rapes in Russia during World War II. "... 200,000, 300,000 or possibly 400,000 women (three sets of statistics have been variously quoted) were raped.""
  34. ^ Brownmiller, Susan, "Against Our Will : Men, Women, and Rape" ISBN 0-449-90820-8, page 81
  35. ^ Hamoodur Rahman Commission, Chapter 2, Paragraphs 32,34
  36. ^ Blood, Archer, Transcript of Selective Genocide Telex, Department of State, United States
  37. ^ Ajoy Roy, "Homage to my martyr colleagues", 2002
  38. ^ Shahiduzzaman No count of the nation’s intellectual loss The New Age, December 15, 2005
  39. ^ Killing of Intellectuals Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
  40. ^ Link to article by the Star-Ledger: http://www.nj.com/specialprojects/index.ssf?/specialprojects/mideaststories/me1209.html
  41. ^ Dutch court says gassing of Iraqi Kurds was 'genocide' by Anne Penketh and Robert Verkaik in The Independent December 24, 2005
  42. ^ Dutch man sentenced for role in gassing death of Kurds CBC December 23, 2005
  43. ^ The LRA is described by sources such as The Times as a "cannibalistic cult that has slaughtered whole villages and left its victims without hands, feet or faces".[2]
  44. ^ http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrime.htm

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

International criminal law
Sources of law:
Charter of the IMT - Command responsibility - Crime against international law - Crime against humanity
Crime against peace - Crime of apartheid - Crime of genocide - Customary law - Laws of war - Nuremberg Principles
Peremptory norm - Rome Statute - Universal jurisdiction - War crime - War of aggression
Courts:
War responsibility trials in Finland - International Military Tribunal for Europe
International Military Tribunal for the Far East - Khabarovsk War Crime Trials
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia - Tribunal for Rwanda - Court for Sierra Leone
International Criminal Court
History:
List of war crimes - List of war criminals
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