How does the IHRDC determine what a human rights violation is? What is the difference between a human rights violation and a crime against humanity?
The IHRDC determines what constitutes a serious human rights violation based on international law as contained in long-standing declarations and treaties including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These contain fundamental norms – including the prohibition against arbitrary executions, torture, and discrimination that are binding on all members of the international community, including Iran. When violations such as murder, torture, rape, unlawful imprisonment, disappearances, or persecutions on religious, ethnic, or political grounds, are committed on a widespread or systematic basis, or as part of governmental policy, they may constitute crimes against humanity, as defined under article 7 of the 1998 Rome statute of the International Criminal Court.
