The International Criminal Court emerged in the early twenty-first century as an ambitious and permanent institution with a mandate to address mass atrocity crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Although designed to exercise jurisdiction only in instances where states do not pursue these crimes themselves (and are unwilling or unable to do so), the Court's interventions, particularly in African states, have raised questions about the social value of its work and its political dimensions and effects. Bringing together scholars and practitioners who specialise on the ICC, this collection offers a diverse account of its interventions: from investigations to trials and from the Court's Hague-based centre to the networks of actors who sustain its activities. Exploring connections with transitional justice and international relations, and drawing upon critical insights from the interpretive social sciences, it offers a novel perspective on the ICC's work. This title is also available as Open Access.
In Wartime Sexual Violence at the International Level: A Legal Perspective Dr. Caterina Arrabal Ward discusses the understanding of wartime sexual violence by the international tribunals and argues that wartime sexual violence often takes place without the explicit purpose to destroy a community or population and is not necessarily a strategic choice. This research suggests that a more focused approach based on a much clearer definition of these crimes would help to remedy deficiencies at the different stages of international justice in relation to these crimes.
The proper construction of co-perpetration responsibility in international criminal law has become one of the most enduring controversies in this field, with the UN Tribunals endorsing the theory of joint criminal enterprise, and the International Criminal Court adopting the alternative joint control over the crime theory to define this mode of liability. This book seeks to reconcile the ICTY/R’s and ICC’s jurisprudence by providing a definition of co-perpetration that could be uniformly applied in the two justice models that these institutions represent: the ad hoc- and the treaty-based model. An evaluation framework is adopted, pursuant to which the origins, merits and deficiencies of the said competing theories are critically assessed, and a refined legal framework of co-perpetration responsibility is proposed.
This book traces Radovan Karadžić's personal transformation from an unremarkable family man to the powerful leader of the Bosnian Serb nationalists. Based on previously unused documents and trial transcripts, this book argues that postcommunist democracy was a primary enabler of mass atrocities because it provided the means to mobilize large numbers of Bosnian Serbs for the campaign to eliminate non-Serbs from conquered land.
The best country-by-country assessment of human rights. The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories are put into perspective in Human Rights Watch's signature yearly report. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.
"Of all the reporters who covered the Bosnian war, none saw more clearly, dug more deeply or reported more acutely than Chuck Sudetic. Now, with Blood and Vengeance, he has done nothing less than write the defining narrative of the Bosnian conflict. It is an extraordinary achievement." --David Rieff
Offers an account of a man who started wars, whose rhetoric whipped up Serb nationalism to a frenzy of "ethnic cleansing" and yet who retained for a decade the ability to wrap the "international community" round his little finger.
"The book is based on extensive research, which contributed to and benefited from the author's work as an expert adviser and expert witness for the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, using a variety of sources including interviews, official documentation, and material he introduced into evidence at the Tribunal. Its point of departure is the importance of this empirical material to the need legally to establish jurisdiction before evidence of specific crimes can be considered in cases at The Hague tribunal, and of the conceptual distinction between acts of war on the one hand, and war crimes and crimes against humanity on the other. James Gow argues that the Serbian strategy at the heart of the war was in essence criminal - a strategy of war crimes. Despite this, an understanding of the strategic context might even, controversially, mitigate charges against the accused in some cases."--BOOK JACKET.
The Amnesty International Report 2012 documents the state of human rights in 155 countries and territories in 2011. Throughout the year the demand for human rights resounded around the globe. The year began with protests in countries where freedom of expression and freedom of assemblywere routinely repressed. But by the end of the year, discontent and outrage at the failure of governments to ensure justice, security and human dignity had ignited protests across the world. A common strand linking these protests, whether in Cairo or New York, was how quick governments were to prevent peaceful protest and silence dissent. Those who took to the streets displayed immense courage in the face of often brutal crackdowns and overwhelming use of lethal force. In a year of unrest, transition and conflict, too many people are still denied their most basic rights. As demands for better governance and respect for human rights grow, this report shows that world leaders have yet to rise to the challenge.