War crimes are the most serious violations of international law that can be committed during a war. They can involve killing civilians, attacks on protected institutions like hospitals and schools, use of banned weapons such as cluster munitions, and more. They can also involve other behaviours such as pillaging, granting of no quarter to surrendering enemy soldiers, and wartime sexual violence.
Before World War II, there was no systematic approach to regulating the conduct of armies during war. The horrors of the Holocaust, and similar atrocities in previous conflicts, led to the creation of international laws of war and to the Nuremberg trials and Tokyo trials.
Domestic courts are usually responsible for prosecuting war crimes, but this can prove difficult during or after a conflict: the regime that perpetrated the crime may still be in power, the country’s judicial infrastructure may have been damaged, etc. In those situations, tribunals and the International Criminal Court can prosecute for war crimes on the basis of universal jurisdiction.
In addition, it has become increasingly possible to document war crimes during a conflict thanks to open source reporting. This is made possible by the improved cameras in mobile phones, geolocation and social media data, and the availability of digital tools that can sift through vast amounts of information. As a result, TRIAL International is able to identify suspected perpetrators of war crimes and submit their cases to domestic and international authorities for investigation and prosecution.