Offences Against the Person

This chapter examines offences against the person with an international or transnational element. Many of these, however, constitute erga omnes obligations, and as such their violation even within a single State creates a legal interest for every State in the world. Here we examine the following offences: slavery and related practices; torture; apartheid; and enforced disappearances. Other offences against the person, such as grave breaches, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are covered in other chapters, in accordance with the judicial institution in which they are framed. Other international offences that offend the person, albeit where the effect on the person is incidental to the primary aim of the perpetrator, which is either financial or sociopolitical, such as piracy, terrorism and organised crime are covered in other distinct chapters. All of these offences, by their very nature, constitute serious human rights violations. Although reference is made to the various international human rights instruments, these were not designed to deal with the individual responsibility of the perpetrators. This does not mean that they are irrelevant in the international criminalisation process; rather, caution should be exercised when human rights notions are transplanted in the international criminal process, as will be evident throughout this chapter.