The idea of ‘crimes against humanity’ has been uniquely successful and constitutes an essential part of international criminal law. This article offers a novel explanation for this ideational potency. It is submitted that what we came to call crimes against humanity is, in fact, made possible by uniquely human features. Examining why, nevertheless, the conjunction ‘against’ has been far more dominant than the equally plausible ‘of’, the article reveals a psychological function of international criminal law: Construing mass atrocity as the antipode of humanity allows to escape the painful feeling of cognitive dissonance that arises when confronted with the fact that atrocious events remain an undeniable part of our world. Since using international criminal law as a defence mechanism comes with several undesirable side-effects, the article concludes by calling on the international law community to understand organized mass atrocity both as ‘crimes against humanity’ and as ‘crimes of humanity’.

中文翻译：

---

人道罪行

“危害人类罪”的理念取得了独特的成功，并构成了国际刑法的重要组成部分。本文对这种观念效力提供了新颖的解释。有人提出，我们所谓的危害人类罪实际上是由人类独特的特征造成的。然而，文章探讨了为什么连词“反对”远比同样合理的“属于”更占主导地位，揭示了国际刑法的心理功能：将大规模暴行解释为人类的对立面，可以逃避认知的痛苦感觉。当面对残暴事件仍然是我们世界不可否认的一部分这一事实时，就会产生不和谐。由于使用国际刑法作为辩护机制会带来一些不良副作用，因此文章最后呼吁国际法界将有组织的大规模暴行理解为“犯罪”反对人性”和“犯罪”的人性'。