text: War Crimes and Enforcement of the Law of Armed Conflict
  unlawfully deporting, transferring, or confining a protected person; compelling a protected person to serve
  in the forces of a hostile power; willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
  taking of hostages; and causing extensive destruction or appropriation of property, not justified by military
  necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly (GWS art. 50; GWS Sea art. 51; GPW art. 130; GC art.
  147; consider AP I art. 85). Under the Geneva Conventions, grave breaches involve violations against the
  person or property of persons specifically protected by the four conventions. Though not binding on the
  United States, under Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, the concept of a grave breach is
  expanded to include violations against civilian persons and property generally. As a matter of international
  law, the grave breach regime (with its obligation to search for and prosecute) only applies in an international
  armed conflict, as defined by Common Article 2 of the Geneva Conventions (see GWS art. 2, GWS Sea art.
  2, GPW art. 2 and GC art. 2).
  Other Violations
  8-16. Other LOAC violations that are punishable and may be serious enough to merit characterization as
  “war crimes” include, but are not limited to, using poisonous weapons or weapons calculated to cause
  unnecessary suffering; attack or bombardment of undefended cities, towns or villages; pillage of public or
  private property; maltreatment of dead bodies; poisoning of wells or streams; resorting to perfidy (for
  example, using a white flag to conduct an attack treacherously); abusing or intentionally firing on a flag of
  truce; intentionally targeting protected places, objects, or protected persons (HR art. 23a, 23g, 25, 28, 47;
  War Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2441; consider AP I art. 85).
  WAR CRIMES IN NON-INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICTS
  8-17. Common Article 3 provides minimum standards that parties to a conflict are bound to apply in a non-
  international armed conflict, and its standards are widely considered to apply to all armed conflicts. It
  explicitly prohibits violence to life and person for those taking no active part in hostilities and protects them
  from murder; mutilation; cruel treatment; torture; being taken hostages; outrages upon personal dignity, in
  particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; and sentences passed and executions carried out without a
  judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees recognized as
  indispensable by civilized peoples (see GWS art. 3, GWS Sea art. 3, GPW art. 3 and GC art. 3). Conduct
  that violates Common Article 3 can be punished by a State competent to exercise jurisdiction with respect to
  that conduct.
  8-18. While nothing in Common Article 3 specifically requires that States impose individual criminal
  liability for violation of its standards, other treaties and domestic statutes do make reference to Common
  Article 3 in defining what constitutes a war crime. For example, in the United States, the War Crimes Act
  and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 criminalize certain violations of Common Article 3 (see, for
  example, 18 U.S.C. § 2441(c)(3) (War Crimes Act, as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2006)).
  OTHER VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT
  8-19. The United States has an obligation to take all measures necessary to prevent acts contrary to the
  Geneva Conventions. Violations of LOAC that are not sufficiently serious are generally not characterized as
  “war crimes,” but typically may be prosecuted under a State’s domestic law or addressed via administrative
  measures. In the United States, this may include referring charges to a court-martial under the UCMJ (see,
  for example, UCMJ art. 93, Cruelty and Maltreatment) or taking other actions, such as changing doctrine or
  tactics, providing additional training, taking administrative or corrective measures, imposing non-judicial
  punishment, or initiating prosecution before a civilian court, as appropriate.
  UNITED STATES’ OBLIGATIONS
  8-20. The United States has certain treaty obligations with respect to LOAC violations, including the
  following obligations: