ABILA Study Group on Crimes Against Humanity

 

On May 29, 2025, the American Branch of the International Law Association convened the first session of their Study Group on Crimes Against Humanity. The Study Group brings together eminent international law experts and practitioners, with Professor Leila Nadya Sadat, Director of the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, as their Chair.

The Study Group is charged with reviewing the International Law Commission’s 2019 Draft Articles on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity and making recommendations as necessary to strengthen the draft treaty’s language and substance. Their insights will support State delegations as they develop their positions and prepare for formal treaty negotiations.

Topics under review include:

– A monitoring mechanism for the treaty;
– Immunities and amnesties;
– Modes of liability;
– The scope and effect of jurisdiction and the aut judicare aut dedere principle;
– Proposals to include environmental crimes and starvation as crimes against humanity;
– and whether the Convention is sufficiently gender-competent with child-specific protections.

The core guiding principle of the Study Group is to ensure that the treaty negotiating process and the adopted text enhance, rather than detract from, the principles of international criminal law found in existing international criminal law instruments and customary international law. The Study Group may also propose draft provisions that it believes could advance the progressive development of international law.