Crimes Against Humanity: The Supreme Court Of Canada

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Crimes against humanity may be committed during a war - civil or international - as well as in times of peace. The Federal Court has often noted that crimes against humanity are defined in the Charter of the International Military Tribunal as "…murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population…"Note 11 Additionally, the crime in question, in order to rise to the level of a crime against humanity, must be committed in a "widespread systematic fashion".Note 12

When "barbarous cruelty" is an additional component of kidnapping, unlawful confinement, robbery and manslaughter, such offences can achieve the level of crimes against humanity.Note 13

The Supreme Court of Canada, in Mugesera,Note

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