Category:Atrocities committed by the United States

This is an ever-growing list of atrocities committed by the United States of America. What constitutes an atrocity does not have a universally accepted definition. However, a framework used by the United Nations describes atrocity crimes as a violation of international criminal law that falls under the historically three legally defined international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.^[1]

Crimes against humanity are certain acts that are purposefully committed by a state, or on behalf of a state, as part of a widespread or systematic policy, typically directed against civilians, in times of war or peace. Ethnic cleansing is considered by many to constitute an atrocity crime. Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state.

There is little consensus on how to officially and universally define such acts, and in many cases there can be overlap in the conditions and contexts where such acts occur, making it possible to classify them in multiple ways. Therefore a broad term such as "atrocity" may be used to describe a wide variety of acts which, when examined individually, may be described with more precision in their proper context.

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