originally, from Customary International Law,27 and was later conceptually developed under International Humanitarian Law,28 and, more recently, under International Criminal Law.29 Here, we are in the realm of jus cogens, of peremptory law. When human beings fall victim to such crimes, humanity as a whole is likewise victimized. This has been expressly recognized by the ICTY (in the Case of Tadic, 1997); such crimes affect the human conscience (ICTY, Case of Erdemovic, 1996),30 -the universal juridical conscience,- and the aggrieved persons as well as humanity itself fall victim to them.31 This line of analysis developed by International Humanitarian Law and contemporary International Criminal Law must, in my view, be incorporated into the conceptual universe of International Human Rights Law. This Judgment of the Inter-American Court in the Case of Almonacid-Arellano et al. constitutes a first step in this direction. Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade Judge Pablo Saavedra-Alessandri Secretary 27 . S.R. Ratner and J.S. Abrams, Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1997, pp. 45-48. 28 . Cf. J. Pictet, Développement et principes du Droit international humanitaire, Genève/Paris, Inst. H.-Dunant/Pédone, 1983, pp. 107 and 77; C. Swinarski, Principales Nociones e Institutos del Derecho Internacional Humanitario como Sistema Internacional de Protección de la Persona Humana (Basic Concepts and Principles of International Humanitarian Law as an International System for the Protection of Human Rights), San José de Costa Rica, IIDH, 1990, p. 20. 29 . Cf. D. Robinson, "Defining ‘Crimes against Humanity’ at the Rome Conference," 93 American Journal of International Law (1999) pp. 43-57; and, on the historical background, cf., e.g. H. Fujita, "Le crime contre l'humanité dans les procès de Nuremberg et de Tokyo," 34 Kobe University Law Review (2000) pp. 1-15. - Crimes against humanity are currently defined in The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 7). 30 . J.R.W.D. Jones, The Practice of the International Criminal Tribunals..., op. cit. supra n. (24), pp. 111-112. 31 . A.A. Cançado-Trindade, “International Law for Humankind: Towards a New Jus Gentium - General Course on Public International Law,” Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de la Haye (2005) Chapter XI (in print).