IMPEACHMENT TOOLKIT: Nuremberg Principles, UN Res 95

The United Nations General Assembly unanimously passed Resolution 95 affirming the principles of international law recognized by the charter and judgment of the Nuremberg Tribunal. These Principles of International Law were formulated and published by the International Law Commission on July 29, 1950:


Principle I
Any person who commits an act
which constitutes a crime under international law
is responsible therefore and liable to punishment.

Principle II
The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty
for an act which constitutes a crime under international law
does not relieve the person who committed the act
from responsibility under international law.

Principle III
The fact that a person committed an act
which constitutes a crime under international law
acted as Head of State or responsible Government official
does not relieve him from responsibility under international law

Principle IV
The fact that a person acted
pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior
does not relieve him from responsibility under international law,
provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.

Principle V
Any person charged with a crime
under international law has the right to a fair trial
on the facts and law.

Principle VI
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable
as crimes under international law.
a. Crimes against peace:
i. Planning, preparation, initiation or waging
of a war of aggression or a war in violation
of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
ii. Participation in a common plan or conspiracy
for the accomplishment of any of the acts
mentioned under (i).
b. War crimes:
Violations of the laws or customs of war which include,
but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment
or deportation to slave-labor or for any other purpose
of civilian population of or in occupied territory,
murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war
or persons on the seas, killing of hostages,
plunder of public or private property,
wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages,
or devastation not justified by military necessity.
c. Crimes against humanity:
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation
and other inhuman acts done against any civilian population,
or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds,
when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on
in execution of or in connection with any crime against peace
or any war crime.

Principle VII
Complicity in the commission of a crime
against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity
as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law.