Full Description
The fall of dictatorial regimes and the eruption of destructive civil conflicts around the world have led to calls for holding individuals accountable for human rights atrocities. International law had little to say on this subject from the time of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials fifty years ago until very recently. In this well-researched book, Steven Ratner and Jason Abrams offer a comprehensive study of the promise and limitations of international criminal law as a means of enforcing international human rights and humanitarian law. They provide a searching analysis of the principal crimes under the law of nations, such as genocide and crimes against humanity. They go on to appraise the most important prosecutorial and other mechanisms developed to bring individuals to justice. After applying their conclusions in a detailed case study, the authors offer a series of compelling conclusions on the prospects for accountability. In this new edition the authors also cover recent developments such as the jurisprudence of the UN's Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, new domestic attempts at accountability, and the International Criminal Court.
This new edition has been revised and updated to include developments since 1997, including domestic prosecutions and truth commission, the work of the UN's Yugoslavia and Rwand Tribunals, and the International Criminal Court.
Contents
PART ONE: SUBSTANTIVE LAW; 1. Individual Accountability for Human Rights Abuses: Historical and Legal Underpinnings; 2. Genocide and the Imperfections of Codification; 3. Crimes Against Humanity and the Inexactitude of Custom; 4. War Crimes and the Limitations of Accountability for Acts in Armed Conflict; 5. Other Abuses Incurring Individual Responsibility under International Law; 6. Expanding and Contracting Culpability: Related Crimes, Defenses, and Other Barriers to Criminality; PART TWO: MECHANISMS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY; 7. Mechanisms for Accountability: Framing the Issues; 8. The Forum of First Resort: National Tribunals; 9. The Progeny of Nuremberg: International Criminal Tribunals; 10. Non-Prosecutorial Options: Investigatory Commissions, Civil Suits, and Immigration Measure; 11. Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance; PART THREE: A CASE STUDY: THE ATTROCITIES OF THE KHMER ROUGE; 12. The Khmer Rouge Rule Over Cambodia: A Historical Overview; 14. Engaging the Mechanisms; PART FOUR: CONCLUSIONS; 15. Striving for Justice: The Prospect for Individual Accountability Appendices; Appendices
