Committing War Crimes One Click at a Time? User-Generated Content and the War Crime of Outrages upon the Personal Dignity of the Dead at the International Criminal Court

Abstract Considering the proliferation of the creation and sharing of content depicting (body parts of) the deceased in recent conflicts, it is likely that such material will reach the International Criminal Court. As such, the article discusses whether the war crime of outrages upon personal dignity contained in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) (a) covers the deceased and (b) whether creating and sharing user-generated content that depicts (body parts of) the deceased constitutes criminal conduct amounting to this crime. To answer the questions, the article examines the scope of protection and the material scope of the war crime of outrages upon personal dignity, relying on the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute and its Elements of Crimes as well as jurisprudence.