Atrocities and International Accountability

Atrocities and International Accountability
Author: Edel Hughes
Publisher:
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN:

Rebuilding societies where conflict has occurred is rarely a simple process. Where conflict has been accompanied by gross and systematic violations of human rights, the procedure becomes very controversial. The traditional debate on "transitional justice" sought to balance justice, truth, accountability, peace, and stability. The appearance of impunity for past crimes undermines confidence in new democratic structures and casts doubt upon commitments to human rights. Yet the need to consolidate peace sometimes resulted in reluctance on the part of authorities --both local and international --to confront suspected perpetrators of human rights violations, especially when they are a part of a peace process. Experience in many regions of the world therefore suggested a tradeoff between peace and justice. But that is changing. There is a growing consensus that some forms of justice and accountability are integral to --rather than in tension with --peace and stability. This volume considers whether we are truly going beyond the transitional justice debate. It brings together eminent scholars and practitioners with direct experience in some of the most challenging cases of international justice, and illustrates that justice and accountability remain complex, but not mutually exclusive, ideals.

Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law

Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law
Author: Steven R. Ratner
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780198298717

The fall of dictatorial regimes and the eruption of civil conflicts around the world have resulted in individuals being held accountable for human rights atrocities. This text details the promise and limitations of international law as a means of enforcing human rights and humanitarian law.

The Holocaust, Corporations, and the Law

The Holocaust, Corporations, and the Law
Author: Leora Yedida Bilsky
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2017-09-12
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0472123092

The Holocaust, Corporations, and the Law explores the challenge posed by the Holocaust to legal and political thought by examining issues raised by the restitution class action suits brought against Swiss banks and German corporations before American federal courts in the 1990s. Although the suits were settled for unprecedented amounts of money, the defendants did not formally assume any legal responsibility. Thus, the lawsuits were bitterly criticized by lawyers for betraying justice and by historians for distorting history. Leora Bilsky argues class action litigation and settlement offer a mode of accountability well suited to addressing the bureaucratic nature of business involvement in atrocities. Prior to these lawsuits, legal treatment of the Holocaust was dominated by criminal law and its individualistic assumptions, consistently failing to relate to the structural aspects of Nazi crimes. Engaging critically with contemporary debates about corporate responsibility for human rights violations and assumptions about “law,” she argues for the need to design processes that make multinational corporations accountable, and examines the implications for transitional justice, the relationship between law and history, and for community and representation in a post-national world. Her novel interpretation of the restitution lawsuits not only adds an important dimension to the study of Holocaust trials, but also makes an innovative contribution to broader and pressing contemporary legal and political debates. In an era when corporations are ever more powerful and international, Bilsky’s arguments will attract attention beyond those interested in the Holocaust and its long shadow.

Law, Politics and the Limits of Prosecuting Mass Atrocity

Law, Politics and the Limits of Prosecuting Mass Atrocity
Author: Damien Rogers
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2017-08-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319609947

This book offers a unique and powerful critique of the quest for international criminal justice. It explores the efforts of three successive generations of international prosecutors, recognising the vital roles they play in the enforcement of international criminal law. By critically examining prosecutorial performance during the pre-trial and trial phases, the volume argues that these prosecutors are simultaneously political actors serving in the interests of economic liberalisation. It also posits that international prosecutors help wage a mostly silent and largely unacknowledged politico-cultural war fought for control over the institutions governing modernist international affairs. As the author contends, international prosecutors are thus best understood as agents not only of the law and politics, but also of a war fought by proponents of various utopian projects.

Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention

Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention
Author: Sheri P. Rosenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 547
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107094968

This proposes a new framework for atrocity prevention, featuring scholars from around the globe including three former UN special advisers.

Corporate War Crimes

Corporate War Crimes
Author: James G. Stewart
Publisher:
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2011
Genre: Corporations
ISBN: 9781936133321

Pillage means theft during war. Although the prohibition against pillage dates to the Roman Empire, pillaging is a modern war crime that can be enforced before international and domestic criminal courts. Following World War II, several businessmen were convicted for commercial pillage of natural resources. And although pillage has been prosecuted in recent years, commercial actors are seldom held accountable for their role in fueling conflict. Reviving corporate liability for pillaging natural resources is not simply about protecting property rights during conflict--it can also play a significant role in preventing atrocity. Since the end of the Cold War, the illegal exploitation of natural resources has become a prevalent means of financing conflict. In countries including Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Iraq, Liberia, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone, the illicit trade in natural resources has not only created incentives for violence, but has also furnished warring parties with the finances necessary to sustain some of the most brutal hostilities in recent history. In Corporate War Crimes, available in its second edition, law professor James G. Stewart offers a roadmap of the law governing pillage as applied to the illegal exploitation of natural resources by corporations and their officers. The text traces the evolution of the prohibition against pillage from its earliest forms through the Nuremburg trials to today's national laws and international treaties. In doing so, Stewart provides a long-awaited blueprint for prosecuting corporate plunder during war. Corporate War Crimes seeks to guide investigative bodies, war crimes prosecutors, and judges engaged with the technicalities of pillage. It should also be useful for advocates, political institutions, and companies interested in curbing resource wars. The report is available for download in English and French.

Doing Justice to History

Doing Justice to History
Author: Barrie Sander
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2021-03-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0198846878

This book examines how historical narratives of mass atrocites are constructed and contested within international criminal courts. In particular, it looks into the important question of what tends to be foregrounded, and what tends to be excluded, in these narratives.

Corporations, Accountability and International Criminal Law

Corporations, Accountability and International Criminal Law
Author: Kyriakakis, Joanna
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2021-12-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0857939505

This timely book explores the prospect of prosecuting corporations or individuals within the business world for conduct amounting to international crime. The major debates and ensuing challenges are examined, arguing that corporate accountability under international criminal law is crucial in achieving the objectives of international criminal justice.

Strategic Litigation and Corporate Complicity in Crimes Under International Law

Strategic Litigation and Corporate Complicity in Crimes Under International Law
Author: Kalika Mehta
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2023-10-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1000969932

This book provides a comprehensive account of how non-state actors rely on international criminal law as a tool in the service of progressive political causes. The argument that international criminal law and its institutions serve as an instrument in the hands of a few powerful states, and that its practice is characterized by double standards and selectivity, has received considerable attention. This book, however, focuses on a practice that is informed by this argument. Its focus is on an alternative practice within international criminal law, where non-state actors navigate what critical scholars call a structurally biased legal system, in order to achieve long-term political objectives. Innovatively, the book combines the concerns expressed by Third World Approaches to International Law with strategic litigation that focuses on the accountability of corporations for their complicity in crimes under international law. Analysing this litigation, the book demonstrates that, while it is crucial to highlight the blind spots of the international criminal legal framework, it is also important to take into account the practice of non-state actors engaged in leveraging its emancipatory potential. This original analysis of the implementation and legitimacy of international criminal law will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and activists working in relevant areas of law, politics, criminology and international relations.

Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict

Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict
Author: Janie L. Leatherman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2013-04-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0745658350

Every year, hundreds of thousands of women become victims of sexual violence in conflict zones around the world; in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, approximately 1,100 rapes are reported each month. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the causes, consequences and responses to sexual violence in contemporary armed conflict. It explores the function and effect of wartime sexual violence and examines the conditions that make women and girls most vulnerable to these acts both before, during and after conflict. To understand the motivations of the men (and occasionally women) who perpetrate this violence, the book analyzes the role played by systemic and situational factors such as patriarchy and militarized masculinity. Difficult questions of accountability are tackled; in particular, the case of child soldiers, who often suffer a double victimization when forced to commit sexual atrocities. The book concludes by looking at strategies of prevention and protection as well as new programs being set up on the ground to support the rehabilitation of survivors and their communities. Sexual violence in war has long been a taboo subject but, as this book shows, new and courageous steps are at last being taken Ð at both local and international level - to end what has been called the “greatest silence in history”.