Crimes against humanity are some of the most egregious international atrocity crimes.

Crimes against humanity are prohibited under the Rome Statute and under customary international law – but unlike for genocide and war crimes, there is currently no standalone treaty that obligates states to prevent and punish crimes against humanity. This dangerous gap in international law fosters impunity and creates a false hierarchy between equally serious international crimes. A crimes against humanity treaty will not only help fill this gap, but creates an opportunity to incorporate decades of progress made towards addressing international crimes since the drafting of the Rome Statute, including sexual and gender-based violence, persecution, enforced disappearances, and environmental crimes.

Draft articles on crimes against humanity are currently being deliberated at the United Nations.

Join other civil society organizations working to make this process as gender-competent, survivor-centric, and intersectional as possible, to ensure that a new crimes against humanity treaty is responsive to past, present, and future victims of international crimes.

Civil society and experts from around the world are calling on governments to negotiate a treaty on crimes against humanity.

More than 560 civil society organizations and prominent individuals from all regions of the world have added their name to a statement in support of progress on a crimes against humanity treaty, and multiple organizations have sent letters to their governments to support the initiative in the United Nations General Assembly’s Sixth Committee. Get involved today by adding your organization’s name to the joint statement and writing a letter to your own government.

Source: https://cahtreatynow.org