|
|
The General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously
affirmed the principles of international law recognized in the Charter of
the Nuremberg Tribunal on December 11, 1946. The principles were formulated
by the International Law Commission, a United Nations organ of legal experts
from all legal systems charged, among ather things, with promoting
codification of international law.
Principles of International Law
Recognized in the Charter
of the Nuremberg Trubunal and in the
Judgment of the Tribunal
As formulated by the International Law Commission, June-July 1950.
Principle I
Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international
law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.
Principle II
The act that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act which
constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person who
committed the act from responsibility under international law.
Principle III
The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime
under international law acted as Head of State or responsible government
official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.
Principle IV
The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a
superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law,
provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.
Principle V
Any person charged with a crime under international law has the right to a
fair trial on the facts and law.
Principle VI
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international
law:
a. Crimes against peace:
(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a
war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of
any of the acts mentioned under (i).
b. War crimes:
Violations of the laws or customs of war which include, but are not limited
to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave-labour or for any other
purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or
ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of
hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of
cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military
necessity.
c. Crimes against humanity:
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts done
against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or
religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried
on in execution of or in connexion with any crime against peace or any war
crime.
Principle VII
Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a
crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under
international law.
|