ABSTRACT
This chapter clarifies how the terms of a war crimes charge determine which persons qualify as victims of a particular war crime. It focuses on war crimes where the civilian status of the victim is the decisive issue, and asks how civilian status has been defined in international criminal law (ICL) and how international criminal tribunal (ICT) have determined who had civilian status in practice. The chapter considers war crimes where the conduct of the victim is the decisive issue, namely those that require that the alleged victim had been not actively/directly participating in hostilities (APH/DPH) at the time of the offence. It also considers the phenomenon of civilians who APH/DPH on a more spontaneous basis, and when they constitute legitimate military targets. While the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have jurisdiction over war crimes involving persons, their precise jurisdiction differs.
