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War Crimes and the International Community

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War Crimes and the International Community
Running head: War Crimes and the International Community

War Crimes and the
International Community

Antilkumar Gandhi
Professor Farber
Winter 2013
Abstract

What are war crimes? Inhuman acts have been committed in all wars throughout human history. It has only been in the last 2 centuries that certain acts that were committed during war were found to be so reprehensible that they were labeled war crimes. Even thought these acts were committed during the "fog of war", they still merited punishment in a court of law in the eyes of the international community. When military and political leaders began to systematically target large civilian groups because of their nationality, ethnicity, gender or religion, then the international community began to see the necessity of holding political leaders accountable for their political decisions in a court of law, (Hauss, 2003). After World War II, when the atrocities of the Holocaust became well known, the victorious Allied powers decided to hold war crimes tribunals to punish the political and military leaders of Germany and Japan. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials were the first of their kind in establishing international precedent for the prosecution of war crimes. Later war crimes that were committed in Yugoslavia and Rwanda resulted in the creation of separate tribunals by the United Nations to punish the leaders who perpetrated these acts. Attempts are being made to set up an International Criminal Court, but several powerful countries, including the United States, have refused to support its establishment.

Introduction

The history of war crimes tribunals only begins after World War II, when the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals were established. The Allied powers of World War I attempted to prosecute war crimes committed by the Axis powers, but no prosecutions by an international tribunal ever took place. A commission established


References: Beasley, David (2009). Background: War Crimes Tribunals in History. Retrieved 7/31/09 from Radio Free Asia. Website: www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/war-crime.html Budge, Kent G Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. Website: pwencycl.kgbudge.com/G/e/Geneva_and_Hague_Conventions.htm Cassette, Jacquie (2000) Chambers, John Whiteclay II (2000). War Crimes. Retrieved 7/31/09 from The Oxford Companion to American Military History Cornish, Paul (2009). Geneva and Hague Conventions. Retrieved 7/31/09 from Military History Companion Hauss, Charles (Chip), (2003). War Crimes. Retrieved 7/31/09 from Beyond Intractability.org. Website: www.beyondintractability.org/essay/war_crimes_general/ Kafala, Tarik
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