We Need a Crimes Against Humanity Treaty Now

Crimes against humanity are some of the most egregious international atrocity crimes.

Crimes against humanity are prohibited under the Rome Statute and under customary international law – but unlike for genocide and war crimes, there is currently no standalone treaty that obligates states to prevent and punish crimes against humanity. This dangerous gap in international law fosters impunity and creates a false hierarchy between equally serious international crimes. A crimes against humanity treaty will not only help fill this gap, but creates an opportunity to incorporate decades of progress made towards addressing international crimes since the drafting of the Rome Statute, including sexual and gender-based violence, persecution, enforced disappearances, and environmental crimes.

Draft articles on crimes against humanity are currently being deliberated at the United Nations.

Join other civil society organizations working to make this process as gender-competent, survivor-centric, and intersectional as possible, to ensure that a new crimes against humanity treaty is responsive to past, present, and future victims of international crimes.