SECTION 3. For purposes of this Act, the term:
"Apartheid' means inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime
"Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population" means forced displacement of the persons concerned by expultion by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under domestic or international law.
"Armed conflict" means any use of force or armed violence between States or a protracted armed violence between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups within that State: Provided, That such force or armed violence gives rise, or may give rise, to a situation to which the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, including their common Article 3, apply. Armed conflict may be international, that is, between two (2) or more States, including belligerent occupation; or non-international, that is, between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups within a state. It does not cover internal disturbances or tensions such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature.
"Armed forces" means all organized armed forces, groups and units that belong to a party to an armed conflict which are under a command responsible to that party for the conduct of its subordinates. Such armed forces shall be subject to an internal disciplinary system which enforces compliance with International Humanitarian Law
"Attack directed against any civilian population" means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in SECTION 6 of this Act against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack.
"Effective command and control" or " effective authority and control" means having the material ability to prevent and punish the commission of offenses by subordinates.
"Enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons" means the arrest, detention, or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time
"Enslavement" means the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children.
"Extermination" means the international infliction of conditions of life, inter alia, the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of a part of a population.
"Forced pregnancy" means the unlawful confinement of a women to be forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population carrying out other grave violations of international law.
"Hors de Combat" means a person who:
is in the power of an adverse party;
has clearly expressed an intention to surrender; or
has been rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated by wounds or sickness and therefore is incapable of defending himself: Provided, that in any of these cases, the person form any hostile act and does not attempt to escape.
"Military necessity" means the necessity of employing measures which are indispensable to achieve a legitimate aim of the conflict and are not otherwise prohibited by International Humanitarian Law
"Non-defended locality" means a locality that fulfills the following conditions:
all combatants, as well as mobile weapons and mobile military equipment, must have been evacuated;
no hostile use of fixed military installations or establishments must have been made;
no acts of hostility must have been committed by the authorities or by the population; and
no activities in support of military operations, must have been undertaken.
"No quarter will be given' means refusing to spare the life of anybody, even of persons manifestly unable to defend themselves or who clearly express their intention to surrender.
"Perfidy" means acts which invite the confidence of an adversary to lead him/her to believe he/she is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of International Humanitarian Law, with the intent to betray that confidence, including but not limited to:
feigning an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce;
feigning surrender;
feigning incapacitation by wounds or sickness;
feigning civilian or noncombatant status; and
feigning protective status by use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of a neutral or other State not party to the conflict.
"Persecution" means the international and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of identity of the group or collectivity.
"Protect person" in an armed conflict means:
a person wounded, sick or shipwrecked, whether civilian or military;
a prisoner of war or any person deprived of liberty for reasons related to an armed conflict;
a civilian or any person not taking a direct part or having ceased to take part in the hostilities in the power of the adverse party;
a person who, before the beginning of hostilities, was considered a stateless person or refugee under the relevant international instruments accepted by the parties to the conflict concerned or under the national legislation of the state of refuge or state of residence;
a member of the medical personnel assigned exclusively to medical purposes or to the administration of medical units or to the operation of or administration of medical transports; or
a member of the religious personnel who is exclusively engaged in the work of their ministry and attached to the armed forces of a party to the conflict, its medical units or medical transports, or non-denominational, noncombatant military personnel carrying out functions similar to religious personnel.
" Superior" means:
a military commander or a person effectively acting as a military commander; or
any other superior, in as much as the crimes arose from activities within the effective authority and control of that superior.
"Torture" means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical, mental, or psychological, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions.
"Works and installations containing dangerous forces" means works and installations the attack of which may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population, namely: dams, dikes, and nuclear, electrical generation stations.
CHAPTER IIICRIMES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW, GENOCIDE AND OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
War Crimes.
SECTION 4. War Crimes. — For the purpose of this Act, "war crimes" or "crimes against International Human Humanitarian Law" means:
In case of an international armed conflict , grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:
Willful killing;
Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population or unlawful confinement;
Taking of hostages;
Compelling a prisoner a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power; and
Unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or other protected persons.
In case of a non-international armed conflict, serious violations of common Article 3 to the four (4) Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely , any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including member of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause;
Violence to life and person, in particular, willful killings, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
Taking of hostages; and
The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable.
Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely:
Internationally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, object which are not military objectives;
Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions or Additional Protocol III in conformity with intentional law;
Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as ling as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;
Launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated;
Launching an attack against works or installations containing dangerous forces in the knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects, and causing death or serious injury to body or health .
Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives, or making non-defended localities or demilitarized zones the object of attack;
Killing or wounding a person in the knowledge that he/she is hors de combat, including a combatant who, having laid down his/her arms or no longer having means of defense, has surrendered at discretion;
Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions or other protective signs under International Humanitarian Law, resulting in death, serious personal injury or capture;
Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives. In case of doubt whether such building or place has been used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used;
Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind, or to removal of tissue or organs for transplantation, which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his/her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons;
Killing, wounding or capturing an adversary by resort to perfidy;
Declaring that no quarter will be given;
Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or seizure is imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;
Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;
Ordering the displacements of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand;
Tranferring, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;
Commiting outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatments;
Commiting rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions or a serious violation of common Article 3 to the Geneva Convensions;
Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indespensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols;
In an international armed conflict, compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war;
In an international armed conflict, declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party;
Commiting any of the following acts:
Conscripting, enlisting or recruiting children under the age of fifteen (15) years into the national armed forces;
Conscripting, enlisting or recruiting children under the age of eighteen (18) years into an armed force or group other than the national armed forces; and
Using children under the age of eighteen (18) years to participate actively in hostilities; and
Employing means of warfare which are prohibited under international law, such as:
Poison or poisoned weapons;
Asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices;
Bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with hard envelopes which do not entirely cover the core or are pierced with incisions; and
Weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of the nature to cause superfluous injury or unecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict.
Any person found guilty of commiting any of the acts specified herein shall suffer the penalty provided under SECTION 7 of this Act.
Genocide.
SECTION 5. Genocide. —
For the purpose of this Act, "genocide" means any of the following acts with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, religious, social or any other similar stable and permanent group as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
It shall be unlawful for any person to directly and publicly incite others to commit genocide.
Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this SECTION shall suffer the penalty provided under SECTION 7 of this Act.
Other Crimes Against Humanity.
SECTION 6. Other Crimes Against Humanity. - For the purpose of this act, "other crimes against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
Willful killing;
Extermination;
Enslavement;
Arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population;
Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
Torture;
Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, sexual orientation or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime defined in this Act;
Enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons;
Apartheid; and
Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.
Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts specified herein shall suffer the penalty provided under SECTION 7 of this Act.
