The close relationship between serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity: International criminalization of serious abuses

Abstract

This article aims to evidence both the existence of a close relationship between the notions of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity, and how this works in international law. To do so, international legal sources such as the United Nations practice, case-law of international and hybrid criminal courts and tribunals, and case-law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and other human rights bodies are taken into account. Thus, this article analyses how these and other international sources have examined the above-mentioned relationship, i.e., inter alia the similarities and differences between serious human rights abuses and the legal objective and subjective elements of crimes against humanity. Accordingly, it is found that, although some differences exist, the notion of serious human rights violations underlies the legal concept of crimes against humanity. In turn, this is linked to the relationship between those two categories of international law.