How are Individuals and States Held Accountable for Committing International Crimes?

Legal Literacy - This article explains the concept of individual and state responsibility in committing international crimes, which is based on the concept of international law.

Individuals can be held accountable if one of the following three conditions is met: the individual intentionally commits, plans, assists, or supports the planning and preparation of criminal acts that are considered perpetrators of the crime. The individual is responsible in accordance with the principle of individual responsibility for participating in a joint plan to facilitate the occurrence of the crime.

Individual criminal responsibility is a principle in international criminal law that has been consistently followed since it was affirmed in the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal. This principle requires that perpetrators of international crimes bear personal responsibility for the international crimes they commit.

This also applies to international crimes committed communally or in groups, that each individual who participates in the group crime can still be individually blamed and must also be held individually accountable. The existence of this principle in criminal law international law results in the inapplicability of privileges and immunities of formal positions held by a head of state or other government officials, so that they must still be held accountable for their crimes. This is the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in applying its jurisdiction over that person.

A person can be held criminally responsible and can be sentenced for a crime within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) if that person:

• Commits a crime, either as an individual, with another person or through another person, regardless of whether that person is criminally responsible or not;
• Orders, solicits, or causes the commission of a crime which in fact occurs or only an attempt;
• Assists, conspires or otherwise assists in the commission or attempted commission of a crime, including providing the means for its commission.

This concept of individual responsibility is also contained in Article 6 Paragraph (3) of the ICTR Statute of 1994 entitled "individual criminal responsibility", and Article 7 paragraph (3) and Article 25 of the Rome Statute of The International Criminal Court of 1998. Article 25 of the 1998 Rome Statute states that: the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court is natural-persons. A suspect within the Court's jurisdiction is individually responsible and may be punished in accordance with the criminal provisions of the Rome Statute.

The principle of individual responsibility is also contained in Article 6 of the Statute of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, where the tribunal has the authority to try and sentence anyone acting in the interests of the European Axis countries, either as an individual or as a member of a group, committing crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.