Currently there is a considerable need for scientific research regarding the legal nature of crimes against humanity and the analysis of the grounds and prerequisites for introducing the prohibition of this type of criminal acts at the level of international law and court procedure. The research into this problematics in terms of international legal science and international court procedure becomes increasingly important, particularly, given the continuing unavailability of a special legal document with a focus on this type of illegal acts, the well-established scientific opinions about the need for introducing the prohibition of this type of crimes at the level of the international Convention, and the current efforts of the UN Commission for International Law aimed at drafting it. Crimes against humanity belong to the category of the “barbaric acts” meant to be prevented by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted as long as 70 years ago, this year it’s being its anniversary to be celebrated by the entire civilized world in December. For the sake of understanding “the spirit” of this document appropriately, the problematics of these criminal offenses may not be left uninvestigated. This is what the proposed article attempts at. The purpose of the article is to study the construction of crimes against humanity legalized in international documents, as well as the measures of legal liability for commission thereof. The author traces the changes in the official interpretation of relevant concepts stemming from specific historical events, starting from the statutory documents of the Nuremberg Tribunal and ending with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The author analyzes the legal position of the ECHR, which in several of its judgments gave more details and a further rationale for a range of aspects inherent in the interpretation of the concept of crimes against humanity and liability for commission thereof. In particular, the ECHR notes that national courts may prosecute for these criminal offences on the basis of international law, regardless of whether such a liability for the crime is prescribed by national criminal law. The article also provides statistical data on the facts of sentencing by international tribunals (including the international criminal court) of particular individuals for crimes against humanity. Special attention is focused on the historical contribution made by the British Professor Hersch Lauterpacht (a former student of the Lviv University and the first scientific drafter of the mentioned type of criminal offenses) to this issue. Today, the most in-depth description of these crimes is contained in the Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as in the draft Convention on the Prohibition of Crimes against Humanity prepared by the UN Commission for International Law. One of the main points of the study is a comparative table of the construction of crimes against humanity by H. Lauterpacht as against the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Based on the analysis, the author concludes that, in fact, the Rome Statute applies the original construction for defining crimes against humanity, since in the statutory documents of the Nuremberg Tribunal 5 crime types can be seen among the 11 ones specified in the Statute, this being about 45%. If we recall that the crimes against humanity in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal were formulated by Professor H. Lauterpacht, it becomes obvious that almost all of his provisions on this issue remain relevant to this day. The study is based on socio-deterministic and anthropo-social methodological approaches. The foundation for the selection and use of conceptual approaches and research methods is underlain by dialectics as a general paradigm of any scientific research.

List of legal documents

Legislation 

1. Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg. (1945) accessed 25 September 2018 (in English).

2. Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind. (1996) Yearbook of the International Law Commission, vol. II, Part Two accessed 25 September 2018 (in English).

3. France, Great Britain and Russia Joint Declaration. (1915) accessed 25 September 2018 (in English).

4. International Law Commission (69 session Geneva). (2017). Crimes against humanity. Texts and titles of the draft preamble, the draft articles and the draft annex provisionally adopted by the Drafting Committee on first reading Report. A/CN.4/L.892 + Add.1 accessed 18 September 2018 (in English).

5. International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) Charter. (1946) accessed 26 September 2018) (in English).

6. Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. (1993) accessed 26 September 2018 (in English).

7. Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. (1994). accessed 25 September 2018 (in English).

8. Konventsiia pro zakhyst prav liudyny i osnovopolozhnykh svobod [Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms] vid 4 lystopada 1950 r. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/995_004 (accessed: 20.09.2018) (in Ukrainian).

9. Kryminalnyi kodeks Ukrainy [Criminal Code of Ukraine]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 5 kvitnia 2001 r. № 2341-III. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/2341-14 (accessed: 15.07.2018).

10. Mizhnarodnyi pakt pro hromadianski i politychni prava [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] vid 16 grudnia 1966 r. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/995_043 (accessed: 20.09.2018) (in Ukrainian).

11. Natsionalna stratehiia u sferi prav liudyny, zatverdzhena Ukazom Prezydenta Ukrainy [National Human Rights Strategy Approved by Decree of the President of Ukraine] vid 25 serpnia 2015 roku № 501/2015. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/501/2015 (accessed: 22.09.2018) (in Ukrinian).

12. Pro zatverdzhennia planu dii z realizatsii Natsionalnoi stratehii u sferi prav liudyny na period do 2020 roku [On the Approval of the Action Plan for Implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy for the Period Up to 2020]: Rozporiadzhennia Kabinetu ministriv Ukrainy [Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine] vid 23 lystopada 2015 р. № 1393-р. URL: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/npas/248740679 (accessed: 20.09.2018) (in Ukrainian).

13. Rymskyi statut Mizhnarodnoho kryminalnoho sudu [Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court] vid 17 lypnia 1998 r. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/995_588 (accessed: 20.09.2018) (in Ukrainian). www.pravoua.com.ua 210 Анна Держипільська

14. Zahalna deklaratsiia prav liudyny [Universal Declaration of Human Rights] vid 10 grudnia 1948 r. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/995_015 (accessed: 28.09.2018) (in Ukrainian).

Cases

15. Case Kolk and Kislyiy v. Estonia. (2006). Application no. 23052/04 accessed 14 September 2018) (in English).

16. Case Korbely v. Hungary. (2008). Application no. 9174/02. URL: https://casebook.icrc. org/case-study/echr-korbely-v-hungary (accessed 14 September 2018 (in English). Bibliography Authored books

17. Grover S, The European Court of Human Rights as a Pathway to Impunity for International Crimes (Springer 2010) (in English).

Translated books

18. Sends F, Skhidno-zakhidna vulytsia [The East-West Street] (per z anhl P Myhalia, Vydavnytstvo Staroho Leva 2017) (in Ukrainian).

Dissertations

19. Zelinska N, ‘Mizhnarodno-pravova kontseptsiia mizhnarodnoho zlochynu’ [‘International Legal Concept of an International Crime’] (dys d-ra yuryd nauk, 2006) (in Ukrainian).