Decree on the application of chapter 1, section 7 of the Criminal Code (627/1996)

Section 1

[1] In the application of chapter 1, section 7 of the Criminal Code, the following offences are deemed international offences :

(2) a crime against humanity, aggravated crime against humanity, war crime and aggravated war crime defined in the Charter of Rome of the International Criminal Court (Treaties of Finland 56/2002) or other corresponding punishable criminal act which should be deemed a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Treaties of Finland 8/1955), as well as the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions, and relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Treaties of Finland 82/1980), (286/2008)

Decree on the application of chapter 1, section 7 of the Criminal Code (627/1996)

Section 1

(2) Also a punishable attempt of and punishable participation in an offence referred to in subsection 1 is deemed an international offence.

Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 3 - Crime against humanity

A person who, as part of a broad or systematic assault on civilian population,

(1) kills or enslaves another, subjects him or her to trade by offer, purchase, sale or rent, or tortures him or her, or in another manner causes him or her considerable suffering or a serious injury or seriously harms his or her health or destroys a population by subjecting it or a part thereof to destructive living condition or in another manner,
(2) deports or forcibly transfers population lawfully residing in an area,
(3) takes a person as a prisoner or otherwise deprives him or her of his or her liberty in violation of fundamental provisions of international law or causes the involuntary disappearance of a person who has been deprived of his or her liberty,
(4) rapes another, subjects him or her to sexual slavery, forces him or her into prostitution, pregnancy or sterilization or commits other corresponding aggravated sexual violence against him or her,
(5) engages in racial discrimination or persecutes a recognizable group or community on the basis of political opinion, race, nationality, ethnic origin, culture, religion or gender or on other comparable grounds,

shall be sentenced for a crime against humanity to imprisonment for at least one year or for life.

An attempt is punishable.

Section 4 – Aggravated crime against humanity

If in a crime against humanity

(1) the offence is directed against a large group of persons,
(2) the offence is committed in an especially brutal, cruel or degrading manner or
(3) the offence is committed in an especially planned or systematic manner,
and the offence is aggravated also when assessed as a whole, the offender shall be sentenced for an aggravated crime against humanity to imprisonment for at least eight years or for life.

(2) An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 15 - Offences against the administration of justice

Section 10 - Failure to report a serious offence

(1) A person who knows of imminent genocide, preparation of genocide, crime against humanity, aggravated crime against humanity, war crime, aggravated war crime, torture, breach of the prohibition of chemical weapons, breach of the prohibition of biological weapons, compromising of the sovereignty of Finland, treason, aggravated treason, espionage, aggravated espionage, high treason, aggravated high treason, rape, aggravated rape, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, murder, manslaughter, killing, aggravated assault, robbery, aggravated robbery, trafficking in persons, aggravated trafficking in persons, hostage taking, aggravated criminal mischief, aggravated endangerment of health, nuclear device offence, hijacking, an offence committed with terrorist intent referred to in chapter 34a, section 1, subsection 1(3), aggravated impairment of the environment or aggravated narcotics offence, and fails to report it to the authorities or the endangered person when there still is time to prevent the offence, shall be sentenced, if the offence or a punishable attempt thereof is committed, for a failure to report a serious offence to a fine or to imprisonment for at most six months.

Article 5
Crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court
1. The jurisdiction of the Court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. The Court has jurisdiction in accordance with this Statute with respect to the following crimes:
(b) Crimes against humanity

Article 7
Crimes against humanity
1. For 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:
(a) Murder;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(i) Enforced disappearance of persons;
(j) The crime of apartheid;
(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1:
(a) "Attack directed against any civilian population" means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack;
(b) "Extermination" includes the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population;
(c) "Enslavement" means the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children;
(d) "Deportation or forcible transfer of population" means forced displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law;
(e) "Torture" means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions;
(f) "Forced pregnancy" means the unlawful confinement of a woman forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population or carrying out other grave violations of international law. This definition shall not in any way be interpreted as affecting national laws relating to pregnancy;
(g) "Persecution" means the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity;
(h) "The crime of apartheid" means inhumane acts of a character similar to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime;
(i) "Enforced disappearance of persons" means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.
3. For the purpose of this Statute, it is understood that the term "gender" refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term "gender" does not indicate any meaning different from the above.