Attacks Are Labeled a Crime Against Humanity

The Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. were a “crime against humanity” under international law, the United Nations human rights chief said.

Mary Robinson, the high commissioner for human rights, said the attacks constituted “a widespread, deliberate targeting of a civilian population”--one of the definitions of a crime against humanity outlined in U.N. treaties.

“When you deliberately hijack aircraft with full gasoline tanks, with people on board, and target them against buildings, no one can argue that that isn’t a crime against humanity,” Robinson said.