The fight against impunity for serious crimes under international law, such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, continues. A new effort in this fight focusing on crimes against humanity is the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative launched by Washington University Law's Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute to study the international law regarding crimes against humanity and to draft a multilateral treaty condemning and prohibiting such crimes. The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative identified a need for a specialized convention on crimes against humanity, because “most crimes against humanity remain outside the ambit of a universal treaty, unless they involve a situation within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Even in that case, no provision for State Responsibility exists, and no mechanisms for interstate enforcement are provided for.”

The key to effectively fighting impunity is robust enforcement mechanisms. Thus, a new specialized convention on crimes against humanity should aim to bridge gaps in enforcement by providing “much-needed provisions on interstate cooperation in investigation and punishment of perpetrators of crimes against humanity, filling both a normative gap, and providing critically important enforcement mechanisms.” This should include “fostering the notion that states have an obligation to prosecute. Such an obligation, however, must be coupled with providing the realistic capacity to prosecute which, for many states, will necessarily involve prosecutions requiring interstate cooperation in the form of mutual legal assistance.”

This chapter addresses enforcement measures with regard to crimes against humanity, focusing on forms of inter-State cooperation.