3. War Crimes, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity

L. International Humanitarian Law

• Categories of Armed Conflicts
• International Armed Conflicts
• Internal or Non-international Armed Conflict
• War of National Liberation
• Dispute Resolution
• War Crimes, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity
• The Role of the International Criminal Court
• War Crimes, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity – Sections 4-6

Sections 4-6

Section 4. War Crimes. - For the purpose of this Act, war crimes, or crimes against International Humanitarian Law, means:

(a) In case of an international armed conflict , grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:(1) Willful killing; (2) Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments; (3) Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health; (4) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; (5) Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial; (6) Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population or unlawful confinement; (7) Taking of hostages; (8) Compelling a prisoner a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power; and (9) Unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or other protected persons. (b) In case of a non-international armed conflict, serious violations of common Article 3 to the four (4) Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely , any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including member of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause;(1) Violence to life and person, in particular, willful killings, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (2) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; (3) Taking of hostages; and (4) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable. (c) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely:(1) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; (2) Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, object which are not military objectives; (3) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions or Additional Protocol III in conformity with international law; (4) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict; (5) Launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated; (6) Launching an attack against works or installations containing dangerous forces in the knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects, and causing death or serious injury to body or health . (7) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives, or making non-defended localities or demilitarized zones the object of attack; (8) Killing or wounding a person in the knowledge that he/she is hors de combat, including a combatant who, having laid down his/her arms or no longer having means of defense, has surrendered at discretion; (9) Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions or other protective signs under International Humanitarian Law, resulting in death, serious personal injury or capture; (10) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives. In case of doubt whether such building or place has been used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used; (11) Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind, or to removal of tissue or organs for transplantation, which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his/her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons; (12) Killing, wounding or capturing an adversary by resort to perfidy; (13) Declaring that no quarter will be given; (14) Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or seizure is imperatively demanded by the necessities of war; (15) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; (16) Ordering the displacements of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand; (17) Transferring, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory; (18) Commiting outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatments; (19) Commiting rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions or a serious violation of common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions; (20) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations; (21) Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols; (22) In an international armed conflict, compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war; (23) In an international armed conflict, declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party; (24) Commiting any of the following acts:(i) Conscripting, enlisting or recruiting children under the age of fifteen (15) years into the national armed forces; (ii) Conscripting, enlisting or recruiting children under the age of eighteen (18) years into an armed force or group other than the national armed forces; and (iii) Using children under the age of eighteen (18) years to participate actively in hostilities; and (25) Employing means of warfare which are prohibited under international law, such as:(i) Poison or poisoned weapons; (ii) Asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices; (iii) Bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with hard envelopes which do not entirely cover the core or are pierced with incisions; and (iv) Weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of the nature to cause superfluous injury or unecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict. Any person found guilty of commiting any of the acts specified herein shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.

Section 5. Genocide - (a) For the purpose of this Act, "genocide" means any of the following acts with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, religious, social or any other similar stable and permanent group as such:

(1) Killing members of the group; (2) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (3) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (4) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and (5) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to directly and publicly incite others to commit genocide.

Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.

Section 6. Other Crimes Against Humanity. - For the purpose of this act, "other crimes against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

(a) Willful killing; (b) Extermination; (c) Enslavement; (d) Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population; (e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; (f) Torture; (g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; (h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, sexual orientation or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime defined in this Act; (i) Enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons; (j) Apartheid; and (k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts specified herein shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.

• Jurisdiction and Double Jeopardy – Section 17

Section 17

Section 17. Jurisdiction.- The State shall exercise jurisdiction over persons, whether military or civilian, suspected or accused of a crime defined and penalized in this Act, regardless of where the crime is committed, provided, any one of the following conditions is met:

(a) The accused is a Filipino citizen; (b) The accused, regardless of citizenship or residence, is present in the Philippines; or (c) The accused has committed the said crime against a Filipino citizen.

In the interest of justice, the relevant Philippine authorities may dispense with the investigation or prosecution of a crime punishable under this Act if another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime. Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court, if any, or to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties.

No criminal proceedings shall be initiated against foreign nationals suspected or accused of having committed the crimes defined and penalized in this Act if they have been tried by a competent court outside the Philippines in respect of the same offense and acquitted, or having been convicted, already served their sentence.

• Irrelevance of Official Capacity – Section 9

Section 9

Section 9. Irrelevance of Official Capacity. - This Act shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular, official capacity as a head of state or government, a member of a government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Act, nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence. However:

(a) Immunities or special procedural rules that may be attached to the official capacity of a person under Philippine law other than the established constitutional immunity from suit of the Philippine President during his/her tenure, shall not bar the court from exercising jurisdiction over such a person; and (b) Immunities that may be attached to the official capacity of a person under international law may limit the application of this Act, but only within the bounds established under international law.

• Responsibility of Superiors – Section 10

Section 10

Section 10. Responsibility of Superiors. - In addition to other grounds of criminal responsibility for crimes defined and penalized under this Act, a superior shall be criminally responsible as a principal for such crimes committed by subordinates under his/her effective command and control, or effective authority and control as the case may be, as a result of his/her failure to properly exercise control over such subordinates, where:

(a) That superior either knew or, owing to the circumstances at the time, should have known that the subordinates were committing or about to commit such crimes; (b) That superior failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures within his/her power to prevent or repress their commission or to submit the matter to the competent authorities for investigation and prosecution.

• Nonprescription – Section 11

Section 11

Section 11. Non-prescription. - The crimes defined and penalized under this Act, their prosecution, and the execution of sentences imposed on their account, shall not be subject to any prescription.

War Crimes, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity

J. International Humanitarian Law (R.A. No. 9851)

• War Crimes, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity – Sections 4-6

Sections 4-6

Section 4. War Crimes. - For the purpose of this Act, "war crimes" or crimes against international humanitarian law means:

(a) In case of an international armed conflict , grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:(1) Willful killing; (2) Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments; (3) Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health; (4) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; (5) Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial; (6) Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population or unlawful confinement; (7) Taking of hostages; (8) Compelling a prisoner a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power; and (9) Unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or other protected persons. (b) In case of a non-international armed conflict, serious violations of common Article 3 to the four (4) Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely , any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including member of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause;(1) Violence to life and person, in particular, willful killings, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (2) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; (3) Taking of hostages; and (4) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable. (c) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely:(1) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; (2) Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, object which are not military objectives; (3) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions or Additional Protocol III in conformity with international law; (4) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict; (5) Launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated; (6) Launching an attack against works or installations containing dangerous forces in the knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects, and causing death or serious injury to body or health . (7) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives, or making non-defended localities or demilitarized zones the object of attack; (8) Killing or wounding a person in the knowledge that he/she is hors de combat, including a combatant who, having laid down his/her arms or no longer having means of defense, has surrendered at discretion; (9) Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions or other protective signs under International Humanitarian Law, resulting in death, serious personal injury or capture; (10) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives. In case of doubt whether such building or place has been used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used; (11) Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind, or to removal of tissue or organs for transplantation, which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his/her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons; (12) Killing, wounding or capturing an adversary by resort to perfidy; (13) Declaring that no quarter will be given; (14) Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or seizure is imperatively demanded by the necessities of war; (15) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; (16) Ordering the displacements of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand; (17) Transferring, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory; (18) Commiting outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatments; (19) Commiting rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions or a serious violation of common Article 3 to the Geneva Convensions; (20) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations; (21) Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indespensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols; (22) In an international armed conflict, compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war; (23) In an international armed conflict, declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party; (24) Commiting any of the following acts:(i) Conscripting, enlisting or recruiting children under the age of fifteen (15) years into the national armed forces; (ii) Conscripting, enlisting or recruiting children under the age of eighteen (18) years into an armed force or group other than the national armed forces; and (iii) Using children under the age of eighteen (18) years to participate actively in hostilities; and (25) Employing means of warfare which are prohibited under international law, such as:(i) Poison or poisoned weapons; (ii) Asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices; (iii) Bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with hard envelopes which do not entirely cover the core or are pierced with incisions; and (iv) Weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of the nature to cause superfluous injury or unecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict. Any person found guilty of commiting any of the acts specified herein shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.

Section 5. Genocide - (a) For the purpose of this Act, "genocide" means any of the following acts with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, religious, social or any other similar stable and permanent group as such:

(1) Killing members of the group; (2) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (3) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (4) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and (5) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to directly and publicly incite others to commit genocide.

Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.

Section 6. Other Crimes Against Humanity. - For the purpose of this act, "other crimes against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

(a) Willful killing; (b) Extermination; (c) Enslavement; (d) Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population; (e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; (f) Torture; (g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; (h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, sexual orientation or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime defined in this Act; (i) Enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons; (j) Apartheid; and (k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts specified herein shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.

• Jurisdiction and Double Jeopardy – Section 17

Section 17

Section 17. Jurisdiction.- The State shall exercise jurisdiction over persons, whether military or civilian, suspected or accused of a crime defined and penalized in this Act, regardless of where the crime is committed, provided, any one of the following conditions is met:

(a) The accused is a Filipino citizen; (b) The accused, regardless of citizenship or residence, is present in the Philippines; or (c) The accused has committed the said crime against a Filipino citizen.

In the interest of justice, the relevant Philippine authorities may dispense with the investigation or prosecution of a crime punishable under this Act if another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime. Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court, if any, or to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties.

No criminal proceedings shall be initiated against foreign nationals suspected or accused of having committed the crimes defined and penalized in this Act if they have been tried by a competent court outside the Philippines in respect of the same offense and acquitted, or having been convicted, already served their sentence.

• Irrelevance of Official Capacity – Section 9

Section 9

Section 9. Irrelevance of Official Capacity. - This Act shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular, official capacity as a head of state or government, a member of a government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Act, nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence. However:

(a) Immunities or special procedural rules that may be attached to the official capacity of a person under Philippine law other than the established constitutional immunity from suit of the Philippine President during his/her tenure, shall not bar the court from exercising jurisdiction over such a person; and (b) Immunities that may be attached to the official capacity of a person under international law may limit the application of this Act, but only within the bounds established under international law.

• Responsibility of Superiors – Section 10

Section 10

Section 10. Responsibility of Superiors. - In addition to other grounds of criminal responsibility for crimes defined and penalized under this Act, a superior shall be criminally responsible as a principal for such crimes committed by subordinates under his/her effective command and control, or effective authority and control as the case may be, as a result of his/her failure to properly exercise control over such subordinates, where:

(a) That superior either knew or, owing to the circumstances at the time, should have known that the subordinates were committing or about to commit such crimes; (b) That superior failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures within his/her power to prevent or repress their commission or to submit the matter to the competent authorities for investigation and prosecution.

• Nonprescription – Section 11

Section 11

Section 11. Non-prescription. - The crimes defined and penalized under this Act, their prosecution, and the execution of sentences imposed on their account, shall not be subject to any prescription.

War Crimes, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity

War Crimes

War crimes under R.A. No. 9851, Sec. 4 include grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Convention, as well as other serious violations of international humanitarian law applicable in international or non-international armed conflict:

• Namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected:
• Willful killing;
• Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
• Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
• Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
• Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
• Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population or unlawful confinement;
• Taking hostages;
• Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power; and
• Unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or other protected persons.
• In case of non-international armed conflict, serious violation of common Art. 3 to the four Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, namely any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause:
• Violence to life and person, in particular, willful killings, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
• Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
• Taking of hostages; and
• The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable;
• Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in the armed conflict within the established framework of international law. (R.A. No. 9851)

War Crimes

War crimes under R.A. No. 9851, Sec. 4, include grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law applicable in international or non-international armed conflict. Grave breaches include acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Convention:

• Namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected:
• Willful killing;
• Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
• Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
• Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
• Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
• Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population or unlawful confinement;
• Taking hostages;
• Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power; and
• Unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or other protected persons.
• In case of non-international armed conflict, serious violation of common Art. 3 to the four Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, namely any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause:
• Violence to life and person, in particular, willful killings, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
• Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
• Taking of hostages; and
• The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable;
• Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in the armed conflict within the established framework of international law. (R.A. No. 9851)

“Other crimes against humanity” aside from war crimes and genocide under R.A. 9851

Any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

• Murder;
• Extermination;
• Enslavement;
• Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population;
• 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, sexual orientation, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law;
• Enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons;
• Apartheid; and
• Other inhumane acts of similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. (R.A. No. 9851)

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

“Other crimes against humanity” aside from war crimes and genocide under R.A. 9851

Any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

• Murder;
• Extermination;
• Enslavement;
• Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population;
• 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, sexual orientation, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law;
• Enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons;
• Apartheid; and
• Other inhumane acts of similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. (R.A. No. 9851)

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

Absence of a Special Agreement

In the absence of special agreement, the offense must have been committed within the territory or against the interests of the demanding state.

Aut dedere aut judicare

Aut dedere aut judicare is a Latin expression that translates to "extradite or prosecute." This principle, also known as the "obligation to extradite or prosecute," is a fundamental concept in international law. Where an applicable treaty or other established legal rule imposes this obligation, a state must submit the case for prosecution or extradite the person in accordance with that rule. This principle is crucial in combating impunity and ensuring that individuals accused of serious crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, are held accountable for their actions. Aut dedere aut judicare has gained increasing attention and has been incorporated into numerous bilateral and multilateral treaties as a means to counter criminal activities and prevent criminals from finding safe havens.

This principle is found in several multilateral treaties dealing with offences evoking the general condemnation of the international community have adopted the practice of obliging parties either to extradite persons found on their territory but wanted for trial on such an offence by another party, or to try such persons themselves. [Oppenheim’s International Law, Vol. 1 Peace (9th Ed.), 2008, p. 953]

Where an applicable treaty or rule imposes aut dedere aut judicare, a state that does not extradite must submit the case to its competent authorities for consideration of prosecution, as that treaty or rule requires.