III.  ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS mechanisms through which individuals can be brought to justice for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides the most complete and updated definition of relevant international crimes, the components of which are primarily violations of international human rights and humanitarian law:109  Genocide: article 6 states: “[f]or the purpose of this Statute, ‘genocide’ means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) [k]illing members of the group; (b) [c]ausing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) [d]eliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) [i]mposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) [f]orcibly transferring children of the group to another group”;  War crimes: article 8 states that “war crimes” means: (a) grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949; (b) other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict; and (c) in the case of an armed conflict not of an international character, serious violations of common article 3 and other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in such a conflict. The Rome Statute identifies a list of acts under each of these headings, such as wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; taking of hostages, declaring that no quarter will be given; using civilians as shields;  Crimes against humanity: article 7 states: “[f]or the purpose of this Statute, ‘crime against humanity’ means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:   See the elements of crimes under the Rome Statute in the “Report of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court” (PCNICC/2000/1/Add.2). 109 75