It can be defined as an action or conduct which is a constituent element of a crime, as opposed to the mental state of the accused (aka guilty act).

It can be defined as the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime, as opposed to the action or conduct of the accused.

A fundamental principle of Criminal Law is that a crime consists of both a mental and a physical element. Mens rea is the mental element, i.e. a person’s awareness of the fact that his or her conduct is criminal, and actus reus is the physical element, i.e., the act itself.

International criminal law is a subset of international law. As such, its sources are the same as those that comprise international law. Article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice enumerates those sources as treaties, customary international law, general principles of law as well as two subsidiary measures (judicial decisions and the most highly qualified juristic writings).

In 1951 the International Law Commission (ILC), in pursuance of the General Assembly resolution, formulated a Draft Code of Offences Against the Peace and Security of Mankind. The Code embodied the principles of the Nuremberg trial. The Code made reference to “persons” as guilty of crimes against the peace and security of mankind in an attempt to prevent them from sheltering behind the abstract entity of state. In 1954, the General Assembly adopted this Draft. Further work on the Draft resumed only in 1988. In 1996, the ILC adopted twenty draft articles constituting a Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind. The Code was related to the responsibility of individuals for the relevant crimes. These Codes helped in creating substantive law related to some categories of crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, though the procedural aspects are still in the process of development. The ILC also played a pivotal role in the creation of the International Criminal Court. At the request of the General Assembly, it prepared the draft statute in 1994 that was ultimately adopted as the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court in 1998.

The end of the Second World War heralded the constitution of international military tribunals to try war related crimes. With the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, the world also witnessed the establishment of international criminal tribunals that would deal with crimes resulted mainly from internal armed conflicts.

• Crimes against peace

• War crimes

• Crimes against humanity

• Conspiracy

The Court is composed of the following organs:

• the Presidency;

• an Appeals Division, a Trial Division, and a Pre-Trial Division;

• the Office of the Prosecutor;

• the Registry.

The International Criminal Court.

The President, together with the First and Second Vice Presidents, constitute the Presidency, which shall be responsible for:

(a) the proper administration of the Court, with the exception of the Office of the Prosecutor; and

(b) the other functions conferred upon it in accordance with this Statute. In discharging this responsibility, the Presidency shall coordinate with and seek the concurrence of the Prosecutor on all matters of mutual concern.

• Subject-matter jurisdiction (which acts constitute crimes),

• Territorial or personal jurisdiction (where the crimes were committed or who committed them), and

• Temporal jurisdiction (when the crimes were committed).

1- The crime of genocide

2- Crimes against humanity

3- War crimes

4- The crime of aggression

Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

Article 7 defines crimes against humanity as acts when “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.”

• murder;

• extermination;

• enslavement;

• deportationorforcibletransferofpopulation;

• imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;

• torture;

• rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;

• persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law;

• enforced disappearance of persons;

• the crime of apartheid;

• other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

• killing members of the group;

• causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

• deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

• imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and

• forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

• he/she was suffering from a mental disease or defect that destroys that person’s capacity to appreciate the unlawfulness or nature of his or her conduct;

• the person is in a state of intoxication that destroys that person’s capacity to appreciate the unlawfulness or nature of his or her conduct;

• the person acts reasonably to defend himself or herself or another person or, in the case of war crimes, property which is essential for the survival of the person or another person;

• the conduct which is alleged to constitute a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court has been caused by duress.

Any act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act” (Art. 2/1 (b))

• the act must constitute a criminal offence under most national legal systems, such as murder, kidnapping, hostage-taking, bombing, torture, etc.;

• the act must be aimed at compelling a state, an international organization, or a nonstate entity to do or to abstain from doing any act, either by spreading terror among the population or by means of violent action or threat thereof directed against a state, a state official, an intergovernmental organization, a public or private body;

• the act must be motivated by political, religious, or otherwise ideological reasons and not by private motives

The Rome Statute.