Our Program

The Crimes Against Humanity program at Human Rights First seeks to reduce the incidence and duration of mass atrocities around the world by proposing and implementing practical policy approaches for the U.S. government and other international actors. Through public education and advocacy, diplomatic and political interventions, and research, Human Rights First plays a vital role in improving responses to particular mass atrocities, and contributes to the establishment of effective mechanisms to halt crimes against humanity.

The work of the Crimes Against Humanity program builds on the organization's longstanding work to create a system of international justice capable of prosecuting the worst human rights crimes. Over the past decade and a half, Human Rights First's International Justice program has made substantial contributions to the establishment of international tribunals and courts with jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide. We played a key role in the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and assisted a number of states parties with the process of implementing the provisions of the statute of the court (the Rome Statute) in their national legal systems. Now, faced with the continuation of such crimes, this work has moved into a related area, with an emphasis on actions aimed at stopping such crimes while they are still underway.

The Crimes Against Humanity program approaches its work in two principal ways: (1) reducing arms transfers to those who commit atrocities, with a current focus on Darfur, Sudan, and (2) increasing attention to the role of third party actors who enable the commission of atrocities, and promoting political and legal consequences for their actions.

Prevention and Protection

In the last 25 years, in places like Cambodia, Uganda, and Rwanda, the international community has repeatedly failed to take appropriate actions to stop massive human rights violations, including genocide. The Crimes against Humanity program works to create a world in which governments and intergovernmental bodies will be able to prevent such situations from occurring, or to promptly and effectively intervene to halt them when they do occur. In recent years, a number of steps have been taken by the international community towards these objectives, including the recognition by the member states of the United Nations in September 2005 of the principle of ‘Responsibility to Protect’; the appointment in July 2004 of a U.N. Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide; and the establishment in May 2006 of a U.N. Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention. For more on these initiatives and on Human Rights First’s work in support of them, click on the links below.

• The Responsibility to Protect
• U.N. Advisor and Committee on Genocide Prevention

Justice and Accountability

Over the past decade, Human Rights First ’s International Justice program has made substantial contributions to the establishment of international tribunals and courts with jurisdiction over war crimes, and crimes against humanity, including genocide. We played a key role in the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and assisted a number of states parties with the process of implementing the provisions of the statute of the court (the Rome Statute) in their national legal systems. The Crimes against Humanity program builds on these past contributions through our continued engagement with the ICC and other international courts, and through our efforts to ensure that courts are able to conduct successful investigations and prosecutions in the various cases they undertake. By promoting an integrated and effective international justice system, capable of providing justice and accountability for genocide and other crimes against humanity, Human Rights First works to combat impunity and thus deter the occurrence of such egregious human rights violations in the future.

• International & Other Criminal Courts
• International Criminal Court (ICC)
• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
• Iraqi High Criminal Court
• Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Universal Jurisdiction
• Remedies in U.S. Courts: the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) & Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA)
• Related Links