§ 2. Crimes
Section 5
1. Anyone who commits, in the case of an international armed conflict, one of the grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, namely the following acts if committed against persons protected by the said Conventions:
(a) intentional killing;
(b) torture (as defined in section 1 (1)(d)) or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
(c) intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health;
(d) extensive intentional and unlawful destruction and appropriation of goods without military necessity;
(e) compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the armed forces of a hostile power;
(f) intentionally depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the right to a fair and regular trial;
(g) unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; or
(h) the taking of hostages;
shall be liable to life imprisonment or a term of imprisonment not exceeding thirty years or a sixth category fine.

2. Anyone who commits, in the case of an international armed conflict, one of the grave breaches of the Additional Protocol (I), concluded in Bern on 12 December 1977, to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Netherlands Treaty Series 1980, 87), namely:
(a) the acts referred to in subsection 1, if committed against a person protected by the Additional Protocol (I);

(b) any intentional act or omission which jeopardises the health of anyone who is in the power of a party other than the party to which he or she belongs, and which:
(i) entails any medical treatment which is not necessary as a consequence of the state of health of the person concerned and is not consistent with generally accepted medical standards which would be applied under similar medical circumstances to persons who are nationals of the party responsible for the acts and who are in no way deprived of their liberty;
(ii) entails the carrying out on the person concerned, even with his consent, of physical mutilations;
(iii) entails the carrying out on the person concerned, even with his consent, of medical or scientific experiments; or
(iv) entails removing from the person concerned, even with his consent, tissue or organs for transplantation;

(c) the following acts, when they are committed intentionally and in violation of the relevant provisions of Additional Protocol (I) and cause death or serious injury to body or health:
(i) making the civilian population or individual citizens the object of attack;
(ii) launching an indiscriminate attack affecting the civilian population or civilian objects, in the knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects;
(iii) launching an attack against works or installations containing dangerous forces, in the knowledge that such an attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects;
(iv) making non-defended localities or demilitarised zones the object of attack;
(v) making a person the object of attack in the knowledge that he is hors de combat; or
(vi) the perfidious use, in violation of article 37 of Additional Protocol (I), of the distinctive emblem of the red cross or red crescent or of other protective emblems recognised by the Geneva Conventions or Additional Protocol (I); or

(d) the following acts if committed intentionally and in violation of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol (I):
(i) the transfer by the occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies or the transfer of all or part of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory in violation of article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention;
(ii) unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or civilians;
(iii) practices of apartheid and other inhuman and degrading practices involving outrages upon personal dignity, based on racial discrimination;
(iv) making clearly recognised historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples and to which special protection has been given by special arrangement, for example within the framework of a competent international organisation, the object of attack, causing as a result extensive destruction thereof, where there is no evidence of the violation by the adverse Party of Article 53, subparagraph (b), of Additional Protocol (I) and when such historic monuments, works of art and places of worship are not located in the immediate proximity of military objectives; or
(v) depriving a person protected by the Geneva Conventions or Article 85, paragraph 2, of Additional Protocol (I) of the right to a fair and regular trial
shall be liable to life imprisonment or a term of imprisonment not exceeding thirty years or a sixth category fine.

Article 8
War crimes
2. For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means:
(a) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:
(i) Wilful killing;
(ii) Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
(iii) Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
(iv) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
(v) Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;
(vi) Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
(vii) Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;
(viii) Taking of hostages.

This provision is wider than the ICC Statute.

The International Crimes Act 2003 includes breaches of international law outlined in Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions in its definition of grave breaches. In Section 5.1 the International Crimes Act 2003 refers to acts 'committed against persons protected by the said Conventions', namely the Geneva Conventions. Article 8(2)(a) of the Rome Statute is worded differently, referring to persons or property 'protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention'. The conduct listed in Articles 8(2)(a)(i)-(viii) cover all grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, but not all the acts listed are grave breaches in each Geneva Convention. For example, unlawful confinement and taking of hostages are grave breaches only under the fourth Geneva Convention (Gerhard Werle, Principles of International Criminal Law, 2nd ed.,The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press, 2009, p. 379). This means that unlawful confinement is a grave breach only if committed against civilians as defined in the fourth Geneva Convention, not if committed against the persons protected under the other three Geneva Conventions. The wording of the International Crimes Act 2003 allows for a broader interpretation insofar as it refers to persons protected 'by the said Conventions'. The plural indicates that all protected persons under the four Geneva Conventions are considered protected persons for all forms of conduct. Furthermore in Section 5(2)(a) the International Crimes Act 2003 states that conduct listed in the previous section (namely the grave breaches referred to in Aritcle 8(2)(a) of the Rome Statute) will be considered a grave breach if committed against a person protected under Additional Protocol I. Those persons which constitute 'protected persons' under Additional Protocol I are broader than those under the Geneva Conventions. For example, wounded and sick persons are in need of medical care are protected persons under Additional Protocol I, whether they are military or civilian. To be protected under the first Geneva Convention, the wounded and sick must belong to one of the specified categories, namely members of the armed forces, militias, etc. attached to the armed forces; members of other militias, volunteer corps, etc participating in hostilities; persons who accompany the armed forces without being members thereof; members of crews; inhabitants of a non-occupied territory participating in a levée en masse. The persons protected under Additional Protocol I might be largely considered to be protected also under customary international law, although it is worth bearing in mind that the Rome Statute was meant to codify customary international law. In practice there might be little difference, but it is notable that the Netherlands have decided to specify also Additional Protocol I as reference for protected persons.