[1] Kunarac et al. Appeal Judgement, para. 98; Blaškić Appeal Judgement, para. 120.

[1]   There has been some debate in the jurisprudence of this Tribunal as to whether a policy or plan constitutes an   element of the definition of crimes against humanity.  The practice reviewed by the Appeals Chamber overwhelmingly supports the contention that no such requirement exists under customary international law.  See, for instance, Article 6(c) of the Nuremberg Charter; Nuremberg Judgement, Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nüremberg, 14 November 1945 – 1 October 1945, in particular, pp 84, 254, 304 (Streicher) and 318-319 (von Schirach); Article II(1)(c) of Control Council Law No 10; In re Ahlbrecht, ILR 16/1949, 396; Ivan Timofeyevich Polyukhovich v The Commonwealth of Australia and Anor, (1991) 172 CLR 501; Case FC 91/026; Attorney-General v Adolph Eichmann, District Court of Jerusalem, Criminal Case No. 40/61; Mugesera et al. v Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, IMM-5946-98, 10 May 2001, Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division; In re Trajkovic, District Court of Gjilan (Kosovo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), P Nr 68/2000, 6 March 2001; Moreno v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), Federal Court of Canada, Court of Appeal, [1994] 1 F.C. 298, 14 September 1993; Sivakumar v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), Federal Court of Canada, Court of Appeal, [1994] 1 F.C. 433, 4 November 1993.  See also Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Security Council Resolution 808 (1993), S/25704, 3 May 1993, paras 47-48; Yearbook of the International Law Commission (ILC), 1954, vol. II, 150; Report of the ILC on the work of its 43rd session, 29 April – 19 July 1991, Supplement No 10 (UN Doc No A/46/10), 265-266; its 46th session, 2 May – 22 July 1994, Supplement No 10 (UN Doc No A/49/10), 75-76; its 47th session, 2 May – 21 July 1995, 47, 49 and 50; its 48th session, 6 May – 26 July 1996, Supplement No 10 (UN Doc No A/51/10), 93 and 95-96.  The Appeals Chamber reached the same conclusion in relation to the crime of genocide (Jelisić Appeal Judgement, para 48).  Some of the decisions which suggest that a plan or policy is required in law went, in that respect, clearly beyond the text of the statute to be applied (see e.g., Public Prosecutor v Menten, Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 13 January 1981, reprinted in 75 ILR 331, 362-363).  Other references to a plan or policy which have sometimes been used to support this additional requirement in fact merely highlight the factual circumstances of the case at hand, rather than impose an independent constitutive element (see, e.g., Supreme Court of the British Zone, OGH br. Z., vol. I, 19).  Finally, another decision, which has often been quoted in support of the plan or policy requirement, has been shown not to constitute an authoritative statement of customary international law (see In re Altstötter, ILR 14/1947, 278 and 284 and comment thereupon in Ivan Timofeyevich Polyukhovich v The Commonwealth of Australia and Anor, (1991) 172 CLR 501, pp 586-587).