The specificity of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court statute

International crimes are crimes stipulated by international law as crimes of an international character against International public order threatening peace, security, and the fundamental rights of the human community composed of three elements :

1_Material element which is conduct with criminal consequence.

The 2-Mental element is conducting by the free will of the perpetrator where criminal responsibility elements are met.

The 3-International element requires that the committed act be issued at the request, encouragement, or consent of a state and involve prejudice to the International community.

Article 8 of the Rome Statute criminalizes war crimes. In general, War means an armed struggle between two conflicting parties where each party uses all means of destruction to defend its interests, rights or to impose its will.

Crimes against humanity refer to specific crimes committed in the context of a large-scale attack targeting civilians, regardless of their nationality, reflecting a behavioral approach of a state, organization, or persons committing such attacks or promoting its policy.

Crimes against humanity are of an international character, going beyond the borders of a single state and affecting humanity as a whole. Because of this, the International community called for the need to address them and determine their perpetrators.

We can conclude from the above-mentioned that war crimes and crimes against humanity are similar especially in their material and mental elements, so where is the difference between them. If we look closer we see that the state of armed conflict, whether international or non-international, poses the following legal problem:

In light of the provisions of Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute, is it required that a situation of armed conflict (international and non-international) be present as a de facto element of war crimes and crimes against humanity?