<aside> 📃 Definition: A most serious crime of concern to the international community as a whole and recognised as punishable by the international community due to being of universal concern.

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• It is essential that all nation states condemn such crimes so that the perpetrators are unable to escape prosecution merely because they are still in power or have fled outside the jurisdiction.
• Universal jurisdiction may apply ⇒ This means that a state claims a right to prosecute a person for actions committed in another state based on the common international opinion that the alleged crime is so serious that normal criminal laws of jurisdiction do not apply.
  • e.g. Al Bashir (President of Sudan). Universal jurisdiction challenged the notion of state sovereignty

These types of crimes include:

• Genocide:
• Crimes against humanity
• War crimes: