Both human rights and criminal law are based on norms that attempt to promote human welfare, but their purposes and methods vary significantly. Human rights obligations bind governments, and failure to respect these rights results in violations of international law. International criminal law is limited primarily to violations of the laws of war, crimes against humanity, and genocide; its purpose is to identify and punish individuals found guilty of these crimes, not to change the behavior of governments. Both goals are important, but confusing them does not assist the implementation of either. Focusing too much on international crimes, which are usually committed during armed conflicts, risks detracting from the attention given to the human rights issues that affect most of the world’s population most of the time.