A/HRC/33/37 F. International crimes 118. The above assessment relates largely to the question of State responsibility for human rights violations. However, the mandate of the international experts also covers individual responsibility.32 119. On 25 April 2016, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court started a preliminary examination of alleged crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction committed in Burundi since April 2015. The preliminary examination focused on allegations of killing, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and cases of enforced disappearance. 120. Article 7 of the Rome Statute provides that some crimes, including murder, unjust imprisonment, torture, persecution against an identifiable group and enforced disappearance, amount to crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. The term “crimes against humanity” refers to “a campaign or operation carried out against the civilian population”.33 Hence, the crimes cannot be random or isolated, but need to form part of an overall State policy.34 The State policy, however, does not need to be explicitly articulated but may be inferred.35 121. The “widespread” or “systematic” elements of the attack against civilians are to be read disjunctively. The term “widespread” refers to attacks committed on a large scale and directed against a multiplicity of victims. 36 The term “systematic” refers to the “organized nature of the acts of violence and the improbability of their random occurrence”.37 122. According to article 6 of the Rome Statute, genocide entails, among other things, the killing or causing serious bodily harm “with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic [or] racial group”. 123. In view of the facts summarized in the present report, the independent experts cannot exclude that some of the incidents analysed herein amount to crimes against humanity. 124. Given the country’s history, the danger of the crime of genocide also looms large. The independent experts recommend that independent international processes determine accountability for possible international crimes. 32 33 34 35 36 37 See Human Rights Council resolution S-24/1, para. 17 (c). International Criminal Court, decision pursuant to article 15 of the Rome Statute on the authorization of an investigation into the situation in Kenya, 31 March 2010, para. 80. Ibid., para. 94. See also Prosecutor v. Duško Tadic, case No. IT-94-1-T, opinion and judgment of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Former Yugoslavia since 1991, 7 May 1997, para. 648. See also Prosecutor v. Duško Tadic opinion and judgment, para. 653. International Law Commission, 1996 draft code of crimes against the peace and security of mankind, para. 4 of the commentary to draft article 18. See also: International Criminal Court, decision pursuant to article 15 of the Rome Statute on the authorization of an investigation into the situation in Kenya, para. 95. International Criminal Court, decision pursuant to article 15 of the Rome Statute on the authorization of an investigation into the situation in Kenya, para. 96, and Prosecutor v. Blaškić, case No. IT-95-14A, judgment of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Former Yugoslavia since 1991, 29 July 2004, para. 101. 19