War Crimes in Internal and International Conflicts Foundations and Samples of the Distinction

War crimes occur in the context of both international and non-international conflicts.Though the two are similar in essence, war crimes in the context of international conflicts are criminalized, andare addressedby the International Criminal Court, whereas this is not the case withinternal war crimes. In this paper, the author reviews some examples of war crimes, and examinescertain pertaining international documents such as theRome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998. More importantly, the distinction between international and internal war crimes is discussed by considering the negotiations leading to the approval of the statute and the stances of the states involved. International war crimes include: unlawfullysending to exile or imprisoning people under occupation, attacking civilians and civilian places, starving people, harming the environment, using unconventional arms, forcing people to serve the enemy, killing the disabled, annulling the rights of civilians and using them as human shield. The two main reasons for the distinction between international and internal war crimesare: first, the impact of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and second, the political viewpoint of the statesto keep their sovereignty untouched by restricting the authority of the Criminal Court.