War Crimes

War crimes are crimes that come under the collective name of ‘core international crimes’. Core international crimes are some of the gravest crimes in international law, examples of them can include; the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture.

Through international treaties the UK has a responsibility to investigate and prosecute those who have committed core international crimes.
Alternatively, there may be those in the UK who have witnessed offences or are survivors of such crimes.

If a UK resident has been responsible for core international crimes anywhere in the world, they may be investigated and prosecuted in the UK.

Counter Terrorism Policing is the UK law enforcement lead for investigating war crimes.

War crimes are violations of the laws or customs of war, including:

• atrocities or offences against persons or property, constituting violations of the laws or customs of war
• murder, ill treatment or deportation to slave labour or for any other purpose of the civilian population in occupied territory
• murder or ill treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas
• killing of hostages
• torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments
• breaches of the Geneva Conventions
• plunder of public or private property
• wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages
• devastation not justified by military necessity
• destruction of property that is of particular cultural significance

Report It

If you have been a victim of or witness to core international crimes, please let us know. Your information could be vital to an investigation in the UK or another part of the world.

You can also help by providing information that identifies perpetrators of core international crimes living in this country and the crimes they may have committed.

Counter Terrorism Policing’s War Crimes Team, a national capability based within CTP London, works closely with the International Criminal Court and other jurisdictions by gathering evidence from victims or witnesses of core international crimes to support investigations globally and we encourage those with evidence from these conflict regions to contact us.

We will treat all of the information you provide in the strictest of confidence.

Please note: you can contact us in your first language or whichever language you feel most comfortable using. Your report does not have to be in English.

If you have information that you think can assist us, you can contact the War Crimes Team in any of the following ways:

• report war crimes to us online
• email us at SO15Mailbox.WarCrimesTeam@met.police.uk . We want to hear about what you have seen yourself, where and when.
• call us on 101 at any time to report an incident. If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service on 18001 101.
• visit your local police station to report a war crime.

For further information on the criteria we use to scope referrals for prosecution, please see the Crown Prosecution Service: war crimes/crimes against humanity referral guidelines.