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The US Defense Secretary's public declaration that no quarter would be given to Iran constitutes a textbook war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xii), which criminalizes 'declaring that no quarter will be given.' This prohibition is among the oldest in the laws of war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly declared there would be 'no quarter, no mercy' for Iran during the 2026 Iran war.
Declaring that no quarter will be given is explicitly listed as a war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xii). It is a per se violation — the declaration itself is the crime, regardless of whether it is carried out.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A US submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate returning from a peaceful international naval event, killing 87 sailors. The failure to rescue shipwrecked sailors violates the Second Geneva Convention's obligation to search for and collect the shipwrecked after an engagement.
The USS Charlotte torpedoed the IRIS Dena approximately 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka on March 4, 2026. The Iranian frigate was returning from India's International Fleet Review — a peaceful, internationally attended naval event.
Eighty-seven sailors were killed. The Sri Lanka Navy rescued 32 survivors.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
The Iran war triggered closure of the world's most critical energy chokepoint, causing the largest supply disruption since the 1970s. Oil above $120/barrel, 70% food import disruption across Gulf states, and mass civilian evacuation — consequences of a war launched without congressional authorization.
The Strait of Hormuz — through which approximately 20 million barrels of oil pass daily, representing 20% of global seaborne oil trade — was effectively closed starting March 4, 2026.
Tanker traffic dropped by approximately 70%, with over 150 ships anchoring outside the strait to avoid risks.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Trump's explicit threat to destroy Iran's civilian power infrastructure constitutes a per se violation of international humanitarian law. Combined with the broader war's toll of 5,900+ killed including 595 civilians, this represents a confirmed war crime classification for threatening attacks on civilian objects.
Trump explicitly threatened to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants, which Amnesty International assessed as a 'threat to commit war crimes' -- intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure is a per se violation of IHL.
As of March 21, 2026, the Iran war has killed at least 5,900 people including 595 documented civilians, according to the Hengaw Documentation Center.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A Tomahawk cruise missile struck a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing up to 180 schoolchildren in one of the deadliest single incidents of civilian harm in the 2026 Iran war. Investigations by the New York Times, CBC, NPR, and BBC Verify confirmed US responsibility.
A US Tomahawk cruise missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, Iran, on February 28, 2026, killing between 175 and 180 people — mostly schoolgirls aged 7 to 12.
The school was 'triple-tapped' — struck three distinct times. Analysis showed missiles hit a nearby military base and the school but bypassed a medical clinic between them, indicating deliberate coordinate selection.
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Updated March 25, 2026Military Overreach
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
The United States launched a unilateral military intervention in Venezuela, bombing infrastructure and capturing the sitting head of state, without Congressional authorization, UN Security Council mandate, or self-defense justification. International legal experts, the UN Secretary-General, and governments worldwide condemned the operation as a violation of the UN Charter.
The US launched Operation Absolute Resolve on January 3, 2026, bombing Venezuelan infrastructure and capturing President Nicolas Maduro without UN Security Council authorization, Congressional authorization, or self-defense justification.
The operation included bombing to suppress air defenses across northern Venezuela followed by a special operations raid on Maduro's compound in Caracas.
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Updated March 25, 2026Extrajudicial Killing
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A sustained campaign of Hellfire missile strikes on suspected drug boats has killed at least 95 people without due process, public evidence of drug trafficking, or identification of the dead. Legal experts widely classify these as extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity.
At least 95 people killed in 26+ Hellfire missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September 2, 2025, with no public evidence the boats were carrying drugs.
The very first strike on September 2, 2025 included a 'double tap' — two survivors clung to wreckage for 45 minutes before a follow-up strike killed them. The total death toll from this single incident was 11.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Florida immigration detention centers are sites of documented torture including a punitive cage device, prolonged solitary confinement, unsanitary conditions, and enforced disappearances facilitated by the absence of any tracking system. At least six people died in Florida ICE facilities since October 2024.
Amnesty International conducted a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025 and published findings in December 2025 documenting systematic human rights violations at two immigration detention facilities
'Alligator Alcatraz' (Everglades Detention Facility) operates OUTSIDE federal oversight, without the basic tracking systems used in ICE facilities — the absence of registration or tracking mechanisms facilitates incommunicado detention constituting enforced disappearance
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The US was the sole dissenter blocking Gaza ceasefire resolutions supported by all other Security Council members, while famine and allegations of genocide continued in Gaza. The pattern of vetoes enabled continued military operations with devastating humanitarian consequences.
In June 2025, the US cast its sole veto against a resolution demanding 'an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza' — the resolution received 14 votes in favor from all other council members.
In September 2025, the US vetoed another ceasefire resolution, the sixth such veto, being the only member to not support it. The vote took place at the council's 10,000th meeting, where famine and possible genocide were discussed.
The US paid Rwanda, Ghana, Eswatini, and South Sudan to accept deportees who are not their nationals, in deals a federal judge ruled unconstitutional. HRW called the expulsion agreements violations of international human rights law, and domestic lawsuits in Ghana challenge the deal's legality.
Rwanda agreed to accept up to 250 deportees from the US under a deal involving approximately $7.5 million in US financial support. Eswatini accepted up to 160 deportees for $5.1 million.
US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled the third-country deportation policy violates federal immigration law and migrants' constitutional right to due process.
US airstrikes killed 68 detained African migrants sleeping in a Sa'ada detention center during Operation Rough Rider. Amnesty International's investigation found no evidence the facility was a military target and concluded the strike was indiscriminate and must be investigated as a war crime.
US airstrikes hit a migrant detention center in Sa'ada, Yemen at approximately 5:00 AM on April 28, 2025, while 115 detained migrants were sleeping, killing at least 68 and injuring 47.
Victims were primarily Ethiopian and Somali migrants detained by Houthi authorities solely for their irregular immigration status — they were not combatants or military targets.
A pattern of court order defiance, threats against judges, calls for impeachment, and DOJ Civil Rights Division gutting that constitutional scholars describe as the most serious executive-judicial confrontation since at least Watergate.
The administration continued deportation flights after Judge Boasberg ordered them stopped, leading to a finding of probable cause for criminal contempt.
Trump called for the impeachment of Judge Boasberg, prompting a rare rebuke from Chief Justice Roberts.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Over 260 Venezuelans were secretly deported to CECOT, where HRW documented torture, sexual violence, prolonged incommunicado detention, and denial of basic necessities. Many deportees had no criminal history and were asylum seekers.
260+ Venezuelan nationals were secretly deported to CECOT between March and April 2025, without notice to families or attorneys, constituting enforced disappearance under international law.
HRW's 'You Have Arrived in Hell' report documented regular and severe physical abuse, sexual violence (at least 3 cases including forced oral sex), psychological abuse, and prolonged incommunicado detention.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Systematic forced disappearances of Salvadoran nationals deported from the US, held incommunicado in Salvadoran prisons including CECOT with no access to lawyers, families, or courts. The US bears responsibility for knowingly deporting individuals to a country practicing enforced disappearance — a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.
Human Rights Watch documented 11 cases of Salvadorans deported from the US between mid-March and mid-October 2025 who were immediately detained upon arrival and held incommunicado.
None of the deportees have been allowed to communicate with their relatives or lawyers. None have been brought before a judge.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The Pentagon's civilian casualty prevention infrastructure was gutted in early 2025, removing safeguards that existed specifically to prevent the kinds of civilian harm documented in the administration's subsequent military operations.
The CHMR program and its Civilian Protection Center of Excellence were tagged for elimination by February 2025.
Approximately 200 personnel assigned to civilian harm mitigation were affected.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A secret $6 million contract enabled the US to outsource detention to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, where HRW documented systematic torture. The unreleased agreement created an unprecedented mechanism to evade domestic legal protections by transferring detainees to a foreign torture facility.
The US paid $6 million to El Salvador to detain deportees at CECOT, a mega-prison where HRW documented systematic torture including sexual violence, beatings, and prolonged incommunicado detention.
The agreement was negotiated during Secretary Rubio's February 2025 visit to El Salvador and finalized as a written deal that has never been publicly released, despite its unprecedented nature.
Approximately 1,700 student visas revoked in a campaign targeting pro-Palestine campus protest activity, with the State Department using AI screening and testifying that criticism of Israel could justify revocation. The campaign suppresses protected political speech through immigration enforcement.
Approximately 1,700 student visas revoked since January 2025, with the State Department targeting students involved in pro-Palestine campus protests and social media activity.
The State Department deployed AI tools to screen social media for 'pro-Hamas' content and testified under oath that criticizing the state of Israel or calling for divestment could constitute grounds for revocation.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingActive litigation
Immigrants transferred to Guantanamo Bay face conditions amounting to torture: 23+ hour solitary confinement, punishment chairs, physical abuse, and incommunicado detention. ACLU and CCR lawsuits challenge the offshore detention as unconstitutional and beyond the authority of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Approximately 500 immigrants transferred to Guantanamo Bay Migrant Operations Center since January 2025, with executive order calling for expansion to 30,000-person capacity.
Detainees held in solitary, windowless cells for 23+ hours per day, constantly shackled, subjected to invasive strip searches and a 'punishment chair' for hours as punishment.
DOGE accessed Treasury, OPM, and SSA databases containing millions of Americans' personal data without authorization or completed background checks. Federal judges ordered data disgorged and deleted, finding Privacy Act and APA violations, though the Supreme Court later partially reversed.
DOGE staff were granted access to Treasury's central payment system (handling trillions in tax refunds, Social Security benefits, and veterans' benefits), OPM personnel databases, and SSA systems containing Americans' most sensitive personal data.
A federal judge found DOGE staffers were given access before background checks were completed or inter-agency detail agreements were finalized, violating the Privacy Act and Administrative Procedure Act.
The US threatened Colombia with 25-50% tariffs, visa bans, and customs inspections to coerce acceptance of military deportation flights. Colombia capitulated within hours, establishing a precedent for weaponizing economic power to override sovereign decisions on migration.
Trump announced 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods (escalating to 50% within one week), a travel ban, visa revocations for government officials, and enhanced customs inspections — all within hours of Colombia refusing deportation flights.
Colombian President Petro's objection was specifically to the use of military aircraft for deportation flights, arguing it treated migrants as criminals rather than civilians.
Schedule F reclassification targets 50,000 federal employees for removal of civil service protections, enabling political firing for 'subversion of presidential directives.' The rule strips appeal rights, whistleblower protections, and Merit Systems Protection Board access, drawing lawsuits from over 30 organizations.
Approximately 50,000 federal employees (2% of the federal workforce) will be reclassified into 'Schedule Policy/Career,' losing civil service protections including appeal rights and whistleblower protections.
The final rule removes statutory whistleblower protections and prevents workers from appealing their reclassification to the Merit Systems Protection Board, eliminating key accountability mechanisms.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The systematically intensified US sanctions regime against Cuba has caused 20-hour blackouts, hospital closures, medication shortages for 5 million chronically ill people, and collapse of essential services. UN experts condemned the measures as collective punishment of civilians.
US sanctions have cut Cuba's fuel imports by approximately 90 percent as of February 2026, causing electrical grid collapse with blackouts lasting up to 20 hours in Havana and longer in provinces.
Cuba's Health Minister reports 5 million people with chronic illnesses face medication or treatment disruption, including 16,000 cancer patients needing radiotherapy and 12,400 undergoing chemotherapy.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
46 deaths in ICE custody since January 2025 mark a two-decade high. ICE's October 2025 halt of medical care payments left detainees without access to health services as the detention population reached record levels, creating conditions that contributed to preventable deaths.
46 people have died in ICE custody or detention facilities since January 2025 — a two-decade high, with 2025 seeing the highest death rate (5.6 per 10,000 detainees) since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
ICE halted payments to medical care contractors in October 2025 after the VA terminated a longstanding reimbursement agreement, leaving detention facilities without funded medical services.
US airstrikes in Somalia escalated dramatically in 2025, with AFRICOM claiming zero civilian casualties despite independent monitors documenting dozens of civilian deaths. AFRICOM stopped publishing casualty data and has never paid compensation for civilian harm in the country.
AFRICOM conducted at least 43 airstrikes in Somalia in 2025, more than doubling the prior year's pace, with the administration citing both regional security and alleged threats to the US homeland.
AFRICOM has assessed zero civilian casualties from its 2025 strikes, while independent monitors at Airwars document between 33 and 167 total civilian deaths from US strikes in Somalia.
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Updated March 25, 2026Federal Dismantlement
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingOfficial executive action
Systematic destruction of the US Agency for International Development resulted in termination of lifesaving programs across the developing world, with The Lancet projecting 9.4 million additional preventable deaths by 2030.
The Lancet projects 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030 as a direct result of the USAID dismantlement, making this potentially the single largest humanitarian consequence of any single administrative action.
23 million children lost access to education and 95 million people lost access to basic healthcare when USAID programs were terminated.
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Updated March 25, 2026Complicity in Genocide
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Continued US arms transfers to Israel during ICJ genocide proceedings, including emergency bypasses of Congressional review, combined with active diplomatic defense of Israel at the ICJ, raising serious questions of complicity in genocide under the Genocide Convention.
Since October 2023, the US has delivered 90,000 tons of arms to Israel on 800 transport planes and 140 ships, continuing throughout ICJ genocide proceedings.
The Trump administration approved 12,000+ thousand-pound bombs via emergency authority in 2026, bypassing Congressional review of the transfer.
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Updated March 25, 2026Complicity in Genocide
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Israel deployed US-supplied white phosphorus over Lebanese civilian areas in 191 attacks across 17+ municipalities since October 2023, continuing through March 2026. HRW verified the attacks as unlawfully indiscriminate and called for suspension of US arms transfers.
Over 918 hectares hit across 191 white phosphorus attacks in southern Lebanon since October 2023, with 39% striking directly over civilian areas and only 44% in uninhabited zones.
HRW verified the March 3, 2026 use of airburst white phosphorus over residential homes in Yohmor, classifying it as unlawfully indiscriminate under international humanitarian law.
Immigration enforcement separated at least 11,000 US citizen children from their parents, with children held in government custody for an average of six months while officials used reunification processes as traps to arrest parents and caregivers.
At least 11,000 US citizen children had a parent detained by ICE in the first seven months of Trump's second term -- an average of more than 50 children per day.
Children in ICE detention jumped more than sixfold compared to the Biden administration, from ~25 per day to ~170 per day.
A systematic pattern of press freedom violations including the arrest of journalists covering immigration enforcement, the deportation of a journalist to the country he fled due to death threats, and the detention of reporters in foreign countries covering US deportation operations.
Don Lemon was arrested on January 30, 2026 on federal charges related to covering an ICE-connected church protest -- widely condemned as a First Amendment violation.
Mario Guevara, a Spanish-language journalist, was deported on October 3, 2025 to El Salvador -- the country he had fled in 2004 due to death threats for his journalism.
The administration threatened military and economic coercion to annex Greenland and reclaim the Panama Canal, with the Pentagon developing actual invasion plans, before partially walking back the Greenland threats under international pressure.
Trump refused to rule out military or economic force to annex Greenland and threatened a 25% tariff on EU goods unless Denmark ceded the territory.
The Pentagon developed military options for the Panama Canal ranging from closer cooperation to outright invasion, per NBC News reporting.
The administration imposed escalating sanctions on ICC officials -- including judges and prosecutors -- for investigating US citizens and allies, obstructing international criminal accountability and drawing broad condemnation from the UN and international legal community.
EO 14203 authorized visa restrictions and financial penalties against ICC officials investigating US citizens or allies, specifically Israel.
Sanctions were progressively expanded from prosecutor Karim Khan to four ICC judges and eventually 11 officials by December 2025.
A naval blockade of Venezuelan oil exports drew condemnation from UN experts as a violation of fundamental international law, with legal analysts characterizing it as an act of war imposed without Congressional authorization.
Trump announced a 'TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE' of sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela in December 2025.
UN experts declared the blockade violated 'fundamental rules of international law,' characterizing it as an unlawful use of force.
An executive order attempting to override the Fourteenth Amendment's birthright citizenship guarantee by executive fiat, blocked by every court to consider it and now before the Supreme Court.
EO 14160 attempted to deny citizenship to babies born in the U.S. to parents without lawful permanent status.
Four federal district courts and two appeals courts blocked the order as unconstitutional.
The administration indefinitely suspended refugee resettlement and set the lowest admissions cap in US history at 7,500, prioritizing white Afrikaners, while stranding refugees mid-transit including families who had sold their belongings for the journey.
Executive order on January 20, 2025 indefinitely suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program effective January 27.
The FY 2026 refugee cap was set at 7,500 -- the lowest in US history, down from 125,000 under Biden -- with priority given to white South African Afrikaners.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated Venezuela TPS, and the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect, de-documenting approximately 350,000 people and exposing them to removal to a country the State Department itself has characterized as unstable and dangerous.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated TPS for Venezuela under the 2023 designation on February 5, 2025.
Approximately 350,000 Venezuelans lost legal status and work authorization.
Trump fired at least 17 inspectors general across the federal government without the advance notice to Congress that the Inspector General Act generally requires, and a later federal ruling said the notice failure violated the statute.
At least 17 inspectors general were removed in a single sweep across multiple agencies.
The Inspector General Act generally requires notice to Congress before removal.
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Updated September 3, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
The administration invoked a rarely used 1798 wartime statute to justify accelerated removals of Venezuelan nationals, including transfers into El Salvador's detention system, prompting immediate litigation over both process and statutory scope.
The proclamation treated Tren de Aragua activity as an 'invasion' or 'predatory incursion' under the Alien Enemies Act.
The government used the proclamation to argue for removals with sharply reduced individualized process.
Over 10,000 troops were deployed to the US-Mexico border for immigration enforcement. A federal judge found the administration 'willfully' violated the Posse Comitatus Act -- a foundational law separating military and civilian law enforcement dating to Reconstruction.
Over 10,000 active-duty troops were deployed to the US-Mexico border, expanding military authority to include detaining and searching civilians.
The Air Force annexed a 250-mile stretch of the Texas border as a 'national defense area.'
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Updated August 8, 2025Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The United States sanctioned a UN human rights investigator for performing the duties of her mandate, in what UN experts described as an unprecedented threat to the international human rights system.
Francesca Albanese was sanctioned under EO 14203 for engaging with the ICC in its investigation of Israel.
Sanctions include asset freezes, prohibition on donations and transfers, and suspension of U.S. entry.
A Columbia graduate student with a green card was arrested by ICE for his role in Gaza solidarity protests and ordered deported on the novel grounds that his speech posed 'adverse foreign policy consequences,' establishing a dangerous precedent for using immigration enforcement to suppress political dissent.
Khalil was a lawful permanent resident (green card holder) arrested from his Columbia University campus apartment by ICE.
When ICE learned he held a green card rather than a student visa, agents said that status would be revoked too.
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Updated June 6, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
Federal officials removed Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite a preexisting withholding order barring that destination, then spent weeks litigating what it meant to 'facilitate' his return after the Supreme Court intervened.
An immigration judge had already barred Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador.
Public reporting said he was transferred into El Salvador's CECOT prison system.
A sweeping executive order redefining sex across the federal government, with material consequences for transgender individuals in detention, healthcare, and civil documentation.
EO 14168 defines gender as an immutable male-female binary determined 'at conception,' rejecting gender identity as a legal category.
Transgender individuals in federal custody must be housed according to birth sex, increasing documented risk of sexual violence.
Trump used his first day back in office to grant sweeping clemency to January 6 defendants, including people convicted of violent attacks on police and leaders of groups convicted of seditious conspiracy.
The clemency action covered most January 6 defendants on Trump's first day back in office.
It extended to violent offenders and leaders of groups convicted of seditious conspiracy.