Dictionary

war crime en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈwɔː kɹaɪm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• /ˈwɔɹ kɹaɪm/ (General-American)

Etymology

From war + crime.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:criminal law; international law; criminal law; international law) A punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian.
   • [W]ar crimes are such hostile or other acts of soldiers or other individuals as may be punished by the enemy on capture of the offenders. […] [A]lthough among the acts called war crimes are many which, such as abuse of a flag of truce or assassination of enemy soldiers for instance, are crimes in the moral sense of the term, there are others which, such as taking part in a levy en masse on territory occupied by the enemy for instance, may be highly praiseworthy patriotic acts. Because every belligerent can and actually must in the interest of his own safety punish these acts, they are termed war crimes, whatever may be the motive, the purpose, and the moral character of the respective act. 1906, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, “Means of Securing Legitimate Warfare”, in International Law: A Treatise, volumes II (War and Neutrality), London; New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, part II (War), section IV (Punishment of War Crimes), § 251, pages 263–264:
   • If, this time, there is going to be, after the victory of the United Nations, due punishment of these abominable war crimes, perpetrated in breach of the laws of war by enemy nations and for which enemy individuals must be held responsible, it would be a grave mistake to concern ourselves at this stage merely with the discussion of the most appropriate tribunals to deal with such charges, or with the minutiae of juridical analysis. 1942 October 7, John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, “[Collective Notes Presented to the Governments of Great Britain, the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. and Relative Correspondence] Statement of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords”, in Punishment for War Crimes, New York, N.Y.: United Nations Information Office, published [1943], →OCLC, page 30:
   • The two primary ones are that by the time anyone bothered to codify rules of war, lighthouses went on the list of "do not attack" pretty much immediately, and so it would be a rather pointless war crime to commit; the second reason is related to why they went on the list of "do not attack" targets very quickly, and that is that lighthouses are completely nondiscriminatory as to who they alert to what's going on in terms of danger and coastlines and hidden rocks and such[…] 2020 June 21, “Drachinifel” [pseudonym], “The Drydock” (6:33 from the start), in YouTube, episode 099, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2022:
   • Condoleezza Rice pops up on Fox to be told by the anchor: "When you invade a sovereign nation, that is a war crime." With a solemn nod, the former secretary of state to George Bush replies: "It is certainly against every principle of international law and international order." 2022 March 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Western values? They enthroned the monster who is shelling Ukrainians today”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2023:
   • [Paragraph] 441. The term "War Crime" is the technical expression for such an act of enemy soldiers and enemy civilians as may be visited by punishment or capture of the offenders. […] [Paragraph] 442. War crimes may be divided into four different classes:– (i) Violations of the recognized rules of warfare by members of the armed forces. (ii) Illegitimate hostilities in arms committed by individuals who are not members of the armed forces. (iii) Espionage and war treason. (iv) Marauding. 1914, J[ames] E[dward] Edmonds, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, “The Laws and Usages of War on Land”, in Hugh Godley, editor, Manual of Military Law, 6th edition, London: War Office; His Majesty’s Stationery Office, published 1917, →OCLC, page 302:
   • To deal with war crime such as rape a mobile court system was created in the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo]. 2015, Mariam M. Kurtz, Mwamini Thambwe Diggs, “Wartime Rape: A Case Study of the Democratic Republic of Congo”, in Mariam M. Kurtz, Lester R. Kurtz, editors, Women, War, and Violence: Topography, Resistance, and Hope, volume 1, Santa Barbara, Calif.; Denver, Colo.: Praeger Security International, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 193:
   • To be sure, there is a strong argument that aiding and abetting a recognized international-law war crime such as terrorism is itself an international-law war crime. And there are other similar war crimes. 2012 October 16, Brett Kavanaugh, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, “Hamdan v. United States [No. 11-1257]”, in West’s Federal Reporter: Cases Argued and Determined in the United States Courts of Appeals (3d Series), volume 696, St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, paragraph 66, page 1251:

Forms

Coordinates

crime against humanity · atrocity · genocide

Relateds

war criminal

Translations (97)

bg вое́нно престъпле́ние (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ast crime de guerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ru вое́нное преступле́ние (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · fa-ira جِنایَتِ حَرْبی (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · it crimine di guerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · cs válečný zločin (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sv krigsbrott (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ga coir chogaidh (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · nl oorlogsmisdrijf (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sh ratni zločin (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ka საომარი დანაშაული (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · nn krigsbrottsverk (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · tg ҷинояти ҳарбӣ (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · hu háborús bűncselekmény (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · pt crime de guerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · eo militkrimo (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · bn যুদ্ধাপরাধ (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ja 戦争犯罪 (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sk vojnový zločin (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ms jenayah perang (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · tt сугыш җинаяте (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · fy oarlochsmisdie (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ur جَن٘گی جُرْم (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · th อาชญากรรมสงคราม (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · bo དམག་འཁྲུག་གི་ནག་ཉེས (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · yi מלחמה־פֿאַרברעכן (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · kk әскери қылмыс (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · he פֶּשַׁע מִלְחָמָה (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · tg ҷинояти ҷангӣ (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · hu háborús bűn (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ml യുദ്ധക്കുറ്റം (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · nl oorlogsmisdaad (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · fi sotarikos (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · da krigsforbrydelse (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ckb تاوانی جەنگی (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ka ომის დანაშაული (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · lv kara noziegums (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · my စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှု (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ro crimă de război (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ko 전쟁 범죄 (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · uz harbiy jinoyat (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · eu gerra crimen (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · my စစ်ပြစ်မှု (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · az hərbi cinayət (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · hy ռազմական հանցագործություն (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · az müharibə cinayəti (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · pl zbrodnia wojenna (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · rsk войнове злодїйство (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ar جَرِيمَةْ حَرْب (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · cy trosedd rhyfel (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sl vojni zločin (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ka სამხედრო დანაშაული (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · et sõjakuritegu (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · fa-ira جِنایَتِ جَنْگی (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · gsw Chriegsverbräche (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · mt kriminalità tal-gwerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · cmn 戰爭罪 /战争罪 (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · is stríðsglæpur (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · mn дайны гэмт хэрэг (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · vi tội ác chiến tranh (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · tk uruş jenaýaty (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sv krigsförbrytelse (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · kmr tawana şerî (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sq krim lufte (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · mk во́ено зло́сторство (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · hi युद्ध अपराध (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · tr savaş suçu (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · uk зло́чин війни́ (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · el έγκλημα πολέμου (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · yue 戰爭罪 /战争罪 (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · nb krigsforbrytelse (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ca crim de guerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ps جنګي جنايت (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ky согуш кылмышы (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · nn krigsbrotsverk (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · is kejahatan perang (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ug ئۇرۇش جىنايىتى (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · uz urush jinoyati (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sh ратни злочин (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · uk воє́нний зло́чин (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ta போர் குற்றம் (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · be вае́ннае злачы́нства (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · id kejahatan perang (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · la scelus bellicum (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · sw uhalifu wa kivita (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · gl crime de guerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · lt karo nusikaltimas (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · km ឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មសង្គ្រាម (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ba һуғыш енәйәте (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · de Kriegsverbrechen (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · fr crime de guerre (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · es crimen de guerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · af oorlogmisdaad (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · oc crime de guèrra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · lo ອາຊະຍາກຳສົງຄາມ (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · es delito de guerra (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war) · ha laifin yaƙi (punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war)

wikidata: Q135010