Massive Violence Against Civilians in War

Abstract Armed conflicts have increasingly been characterized by a phenomenon of massive violence against civilians. Beyond a certain point, the question becomes whether such violence is properly characterized as incidental to the pursuit of hostilities or should be seen as conceptually detached from it. This article looks at the competing cases for dealing with this phenomenon of massive violence against civilians from the perspective of war crimes or crimes against humanity. The focus of war crimes particularly when committed as part of a policy at the International Criminal Court has further diminished the difference with crimes against humanity. This article finds that, given the dense overlap of both categories when it comes to massive violence against civilians in times of war, the expressivist finalities of international criminal justice are better served by emphasizing the fundamental nature of such violence as a crime against humanity. This better makes sense of the genealogy of international criminal law as emerging from a tradition of human rights and recuses any notion that systematic attacks against civilians have, in fact and in principle, anything to do with the pursuit of war.