International crime: crimes against the international community and transnational crime: HSC Legal Studies

What this dot point is asking

International crime is the last section of the Crime topic and is often under-prepared. The syllabus asks you to define international crime, know its two categories (crimes against the international community and transnational crimes), describe the various measures used to deal with international crime (domestic and international) and their limitations, and evaluate the effectiveness of the domestic and international legal systems in dealing with international crime.

Do not skip it. The 2025 Section II Part B question required students to refer to legal measures against both transnational and domestic crime, and the marking guidelines capped responses that did not.

The answer

Defining international crime

International crime is conduct that is criminal because it offends the international community as a whole, or because it crosses national borders in its planning, commission or effects. The first kind is created by international law; the second is created by national laws that states agree to harmonise and enforce together. The difference matters because it decides which legal system deals with the crime.

Category 1: Crimes against the international community

These are the gravest crimes, sometimes called "core international crimes". They are defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 1998:

• Genocide (article 6): acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
• Crimes against humanity (article 7): widespread or systematic attacks on civilians, such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, torture and persecution.
• War crimes (article 8): serious violations of the laws of armed conflict, such as wilful killing of civilians or prisoners, torture and attacking protected sites.
• The crime of aggression (article 8 bis): planning or executing an act of aggression that manifestly violates the UN Charter, activated in 2018.

Other crimes of international concern include piracy (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, the classic example of universal jurisdiction) and torture (Convention against Torture 1984).

Category 2: Transnational crimes

Transnational crimes are offences under national law whose planning, commission or effects involve more than one country. The main examples:

• Drug trafficking: importing border-controlled drugs (Criminal Code (Cth) Div 307).
• People smuggling: organising the unlawful entry of people (Criminal Code Div 73 and the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)).
• Human trafficking and slavery: trafficking people and exercising ownership over them (Criminal Code Divs 270 and 271). In R v Tang (2008) 237 CLR 1 the High Court upheld the convictions of a Melbourne brothel owner for possessing and using women as slaves, confirming that slavery does not require chains but the exercise of powers attaching to ownership.
• Money laundering: dealing with the proceeds of crime (Criminal Code Div 400).
• Cybercrime: hacking, ransomware, online fraud and scams, often committed from overseas (Criminal Code Part 10.7). The 2022 Medibank breach exposed the data of 9.7 million customers.
• Terrorism and terrorism financing, arms trafficking, wildlife trafficking and intellectual property crime.

Dealing with international crime: domestic measures

Legislation. Australia incorporates international crimes into domestic law so that Australian courts can prosecute them. The International Criminal Court (Consequential Amendments) Act 2002 (Cth) inserted Division 268 into the Criminal Code, criminalising genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Transnational offences are Commonwealth offences in the Criminal Code and other Acts. Recent examples of domestic law reform:

• The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) requires large entities (annual revenue of at least $100 million) to report on modern slavery risks in their supply chains.
• The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (Cth), passed on 29 November 2024, extends AML/CTF obligations to lawyers, accountants, real estate professionals, trust and company service providers and dealers in precious stones and metals from 1 July 2026 ("tranche 2"), closing gaps that allowed criminals to launder money through property and professional services.

Agencies

The Australian Federal Police investigates Commonwealth crime and leads international partnerships; the Australian Border Force controls the border; AUSTRAC monitors financial transactions; the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission gathers intelligence; the Australian Signals Directorate responds to cyber threats; and the Office of the Special Investigator (established 2021) investigates alleged war crimes by Australian Defence Force members in Afghanistan.

Investigations

In Operation Ironside, announced in June 2021, the AFP and the FBI covertly ran an encrypted messaging app (AN0M) used by organised crime networks, leading to hundreds of arrests and large drug and weapons seizures in Australia and overseas.

Prosecutions of international crimes

After the Brereton Report (the Inspector-General of the ADF's Afghanistan Inquiry, released November 2020) found credible information of unlawful killings by Australian special forces, former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz was charged in March 2023 with the war crime of murder under Division 268 over the killing of an Afghan man in 2012, footage of which aired on the ABC's Four Corners. He was committed for trial in the NSW Supreme Court, where his trial has been listed for February 2027. The case shows Australia's willingness to prosecute its own personnel (supporting complementarity) and the difficulty of doing so.

Sanctions

In January 2024 Australia used its autonomous cyber sanctions framework for the first time against Russian national Aleksandr Ermakov for his role in the Medibank breach, making it an offence to provide assets to him or deal with his assets. The United States and United Kingdom followed. Sanctions are a response where the offender is beyond the reach of arrest.

Dealing with international crime: international measures

The International Criminal Court. Established by the Rome Statute (in force 1 July 2002), the ICC in The Hague prosecutes individuals for the four core crimes. Under the principle of complementarity, it acts only when national courts are unwilling or unable genuinely to prosecute. Recent activity:

• Vladimir Putin (March 2023): arrest warrant for the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children.
• Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant (November 2024): arrest warrants for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
• Rodrigo Duterte: the former Philippine president was arrested by Philippine authorities and surrendered to the ICC on 12 March 2025 over killings in his "war on drugs". On 23 April 2026 Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed three counts of crimes against humanity, and Trial Chamber III has scheduled the trial to open on 30 November 2026 (a ruling on his fitness to stand trial was pending in September 2026).

Ad hoc tribunals

The International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (1993 to 2017) and Rwanda (1994 to 2015), created by the Security Council, convicted leaders including Ratko Mladić for the Srebrenica genocide, and influenced the Rome Statute.

Treaties and cooperation

The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2000 and its protocols on trafficking in persons and people smuggling; the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961; the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime (Australia acceded in 2013); and the UN Convention against Cybercrime, adopted by the General Assembly on 24 December 2024 and opened for signature in Hanoi on 25 October 2025, which Australia signed.

Extradition and mutual assistance

The Extradition Act 1988 (Cth) and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987 (Cth) allow Australia to surrender and request suspects and to share evidence under treaties. INTERPOL circulates red notices seeking the arrest of wanted persons.

Regional cooperation

The Bali Process (from 2002), co-chaired by Australia and Indonesia, coordinates responses to people smuggling and trafficking.

Limitations

• State sovereignty. States cannot be compelled to join the ICC or extradite their nationals. The United States, Russia, China and Israel are not ICC members; the Philippines withdrew in 2019 (the ICC retained jurisdiction over earlier crimes, which is why the Duterte case could proceed).
• Enforcement. The ICC has no police force and depends on member states to make arrests. Mongolia, an ICC member, did not arrest Putin when he visited in September 2024.
• Security Council politics. Referrals to the ICC and ad hoc tribunals can be blocked by the veto.
• Jurisdiction and evidence. Cybercriminals operate from states that will not cooperate; evidence is held overseas or encrypted; national security restrictions can slow prosecutions (Schulz, charged in 2023, is not listed for trial until 2027).
• Resources and speed. International prosecutions take years, and technology evolves faster than law.
• Political selectivity. Critics argue international justice focuses on weaker states and on Africa, although recent warrants against leaders of major states challenge that criticism.

Evaluating effectiveness

Transnational crime

Measures are generally effective where states share an interest in cooperation, as with drug trafficking and organised crime (Operation Ironside, extradition). Effectiveness is lower for cybercrime and scams, where offenders operate from uncooperative states.

Crimes against the international community

The ICC has shown it will pursue sitting leaders, and the Duterte case shows a head of state can be brought to trial. But it depends on the cooperation of states, and the most powerful states are outside its jurisdiction.

Australia's role

Australia supports the ICC, has incorporated international crimes into domestic law and is prosecuting its own personnel, but domestic war crimes cases have been slow.

In one sentence

International crime covers the gravest crimes against humanity prosecuted under the Rome Statute and transnational crimes prosecuted under national law, and while Australia's domestic laws, agencies, treaties, extradition and sanctions deal effectively with much transnational crime, international justice for core crimes remains limited by sovereignty and enforcement.

Try this

Q1. Outline TWO transnational crimes. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Two correctly defined crimes, why each is transnational, and the Australian offence or example.

Q2. Describe the role of the International Criminal Court in dealing with international crime. (5 marks)

• What the marker wants. Jurisdiction over the four crimes, complementarity, a recent warrant or case, and a limitation.

Q3. Evaluate the effectiveness of domestic measures in dealing with transnational crime. (7 marks)

• What the marker wants. Legislation, agencies and operations with examples, weighed against jurisdictional and evidentiary limits, leading to a judgement.