In April 2023, the United Nations Sixth Committee will discuss the draft treaty on crimes against humanity. The draft treaty, advanced by a historic resolution in November 2022 after years of delay, would be the first standalone international treaty that codifies crimes against humanity and establishes duties to prevent and punish them.

To get some more background on the treaty, we spoke to Leila Sadat. Leila is a professor of international criminal law at Washington University and a special adviser on crimes against humanity to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.