Push the Envelope –Watch It Bend: Removing the Policy Requirement and Extending Crimes Against Humanity

Matt Halling, Marin County District Attorney's Office

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Abstract

This article argues for amending the Rome Statute to remove the state or organizational policy requirement from the classification of crimes against humanity. After a brief look at the requirement itself, the article presents arguments to show how the policy loophole creates an accountability loophole in international criminal law, and how removing it both resolves inconsistencies in the Rome statute and facilitates prosecutions for international crimes. The article’s final section examines and responds to leading arguments for keeping the policy requirement. The article is intended to show how the policy requirement limits international criminal law’s scope in unwelcome ways and to challenge the use of state or organizational policy as a dividing line between domestic and international crimes.