Criminalization of crimes against humanity under national law

This article discusses Article 6 of the International Law Commission’s (ILC) draft articles on crimes against humanity, which deals with criminalization of crimes against humanity in national law. The provision uses neutral and generic terms to describe criminal responsibility. This is appropriate for a treaty like the one which could result from the ILC articles, where it would be left to state parties to enact legislation and to align criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity to existing legal concepts in domestic law. Article 6 is a broad provision, yet it leaves a few gaps. This contribution suggests the insertion and explicit recognition of conspiracy as entailing criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity. Moreover, it proposes a modification of the superior orders defence, allowing reliance on the defence for non-manifestly unlawful orders. The clause on liability of legal persons is welcomed, whereas the provision on superior responsibility is criticized. The latter, mirroring Article 28 of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Statute, is at the moment vague and unclear. Thus, drafters are encouraged to adopt a ‘splitting solution’, recognizing a number of separate superior responsibility concepts.