Tag
Incidents implicating crimes defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression.
9 incidents
Grade 5 of 5: International Crime (Rome Statute)
The US Defense Secretary's public declaration of 'no quarter, no mercy for our enemies' is assessed as a probable war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xii), which criminalizes 'declaring that no quarter will be given.' Recognized authorities have applied the law to the statement; no court has ruled. This prohibition is among the oldest in the laws of war.
Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation
US-Israeli strikes have damaged UNESCO World Heritage Sites and over 100 cultural heritage sites across Iran, including Golestan Palace, Isfahan's Naqsh-e Jahan Square complex, the 8th-century Jameh Mosque, and prehistoric sites dating to 63,000 BC. Damage to cultural property is regulated by the 1954 Hague Convention and customary IHL. Intentionally directing attacks against historic monuments that are not military objectives is a war crime (Rome Statute art. 8(2)(b)(ix)); the documented damage so far was caused by strikes on nearby government buildings, and no investigative body has found that a heritage site was itself targeted.
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
Israel's 2026 Lebanon offensive — including white phosphorus munitions used over civilian areas — has killed over 1,000 people, wounded nearly 3,000, and displaced 700,000. Continued US arms transfers despite documented violations raise state-responsibility concerns under Common Article 1; individual criminal complicity has not been established, because no US-supplied item has been linked to a documented 2026 unlawful strike. HRW and UN experts have called for suspension of military assistance.
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
A Tomahawk cruise missile struck a primary school in Minab, Iran, killing at least 156 people, including 120 to 123 children, in one of the deadliest single incidents of civilian harm in the 2026 Iran war. Media investigations, a preliminary US military inquiry as reported, and the UN fact-finding mission (A/HRC/63/61) attribute the strike to the US.
Grade 5 of 5: International Crime (Rome Statute)
A sustained campaign of Hellfire missile strikes on suspected drug boats has killed at least 231 people (CBS News count, September 2026) without due process, public evidence of drug trafficking, or identification of the dead. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul and Human Rights Watch characterise the strikes as extrajudicial killings; Saul's September 2026 briefing note to the Human Rights Council found reasonable grounds that they constitute a crime against humanity, as have several scholars (Lawfare, War on the Rocks).
Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation
The US was the sole dissenter blocking Gaza ceasefire resolutions supported by all other Security Council members, while famine and allegations of genocide continued in Gaza. The pattern of vetoes enabled continued military operations with devastating humanitarian consequences.
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
A systematic campaign to destroy the International Criminal Court's ability to hold Americans accountable for war crimes, combining unprecedented sanctions on judges with demands to rewrite the Rome Statute itself. The campaign goes far beyond any previous US opposition to the ICC, seeking not merely non-cooperation but the permanent restructuring of international criminal justice.
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
The administration imposed escalating sanctions on ICC officials -- including judges and prosecutors -- for investigating US citizens and allies, obstructing international criminal accountability and drawing broad condemnation from the UN and international legal community.
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
President Trump publicly called for the removal of Gaza's Palestinian population, describing it as 'cleaning out' the territory. The UN, Arab League and international lawyers condemned the proposal as ethnic cleansing if implemented. The administration pressed Egypt and Jordan to accept Palestinians and reportedly explored relocation to Libya and East Africa; no transfer was carried out, and the September 2025 20-point plan states that no one will be forced to leave Gaza.