NEWS: To close the impunity gap, Benjamin B. Ferencz calls for prosecutions of aggressive war making as crimes against humanity

To close the impunity gap, Benjamin B. Ferencz calls for prosecutions of aggressive war making as crimes against humanity: Writing in the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, former Nuremberg Prosecutor Benjamin B. Ferencz offers a way to close the impunity gap on the illegal use of armed force by prosecuting it domestically as a crime against humanity. In his article entitled “The illegal use of armed force as a crime against humanity,” he encourages all States to ratify the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute, but, beyond that, to also, in exercising their domestic jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, to include the illegal use of force as an “other inhumane act.” Especially in today’s interconnected world and what he perceives as the obsolescence of absolute notions of sovereignty, Mr. Ferencz contends that a more law-centric approach is needed to counter the war-centric logic.

The complete article is accessible on the website of the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law (subscription). A free-to-access HTML version is also available in English, French and Spanish. You can also find out more about the illegal use of force as crime against humanity on our website.