atrocities (atrocity crimes)

The United Nations' umbrella term for the three most serious international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Ethnic cleansing is grouped with them, though it is not a separate crime in law. The UN's 2014 Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes sets out the warning signs for preventing them.

Documented cases: the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where the 1998 judgment against a Rwandan official was the first genocide conviction by an international court; Srebrenica in July 1995, ruled a genocide on appeal in 2004, with the Bosnian Serb army commander's life sentence upheld in 2021; and Cambodia, where the Khmer Rouge tribunal convicted surviving leaders of genocide in 2018.

Related terms: crimes against humanity, war crimes, International Criminal Court, tribunal

Sources: Definitions — UN Office on Genocide Prevention · Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes — OHCHR · Rwanda: the first conviction for genocide — USHMM · Krstić case information sheet — ICTY · Mladić — International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals · The Khmer Rouge cases — USHMM