11 January ,2020
Curbing Crimes against Humanity Suhaib Ashraf
I am living in a world whose concepts are no longer clear to me. Crime against humanity, an offense in international criminal law, adopted in the Charter of the International Military Tribunal (Nürnberg Charter), which tried surviving Nazi leaders in 1945, and was, in 1998, incorporated into the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
I am living in a world whose concepts are no longer clear to me. A world where the criminal walks free and the victim is called a terrorist. A world where killing a one-year-old kid is permissible. A world that has left me baffled about what is right and what is wrong. No one can believe that any person with any religion or any mercy in his heart would split a pregnant woman’s belly and take the infant out then kill it; kill children one by one in front of their parents; smash heads with axes; or, burn the living. Only a criminal with a heart harder than a stone which has no mercy would do such acts. It is not even possible for a sane person to believe that such a person is a Human. This is a fact that can’t be denied. Killing of innocent people in communal and sectarian violence is nothing new in any country. A majority of the perpetrators of these horrific crimes enjoyed political patronage and were aided by an indifferent law enforcement agency. The criminals escaped prosecution and punishment,
Crimes against humanity are criminal acts that are directed at an identifiable group of people. Genocide is an example of a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity are criminal acts that target a group of people based on their religion, ethnicity, or some other trait, which is not a direct result of something that group has done. One of the most common crimes against humanity is genocide, which is the murder of a large portion of the population. Genocide is often either condoned, or carried out by the government. While history looks back to Nazi Germany for its example of crimes against humanity, the truth is, many modern conflicts see some combination of displacement, torture, sexual violence, and death against civilians. In fact, the number of civilian deaths in modern conflicts far exceed that of armed combatants.
The brutality of violence committed against civilians sickens the rest of the world, as women are forced into sexual slavery, children are abducted and used as slaves; political rebels or dissenters are killed or imprisoned, Human rights defenders and put behind bar, tortured, and murdered. All this because the targeted people happen to be members of the “wrong” group. This may be due to their religious beliefs, ethnicity, social class, or political beliefs.
Those perpetrators had deviant ideologies, turned away from the values of humanity, never cared for the good of others, and acted in complete disregard to the devastating consequences of their deeds (such as terrorising people, maximising risk of foreign intervention, deteriorating the country’s reputation, and discouraging domestic investments, which require stability and security).
It is the duty of everyone in this world — leaders, politicians, and citizens — to mobilise and combat such erroneous ideologies. Scholars and intellectuals have a particularly important role in refuting the malicious thought that seeks to plunge society into chaos and turmoil and to implant intimidation and insecurity into Human’ lives.
I ask Allah swt, Exalted be He, to protect us and all humanity from evil and tribulations.
Suhaibbhatt85@gmail.com
