Synopses & Reviews
The book offers An introduction to international law's approaches to holding individuals accountable for human rights atrocities, exploring whether human rights abusers can and should be brought to justice.
The authors examine how, in the years since the Nuremberg trials, states have created international norms holding abusers accountable, tried such people domestically and internationally for their crimes, and established other, non-criminal forms of accountability. These include trials in domestic courts and international tribunals such as the UN's Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals and the International Criminal Court, as well as nonprosecutorial mechanisms including civil suits, truth commissions, and immigration measures. The authors appraise the state of the law and its mechanisms, including analysis of the principal crimes (such as genocide and crimes against humanity) and discuss the opportunities for and challenges to further steps aimed at accountability.
This fully updated new edition also explores individual accountability for terrorist acts and accountability for acts undertaken in the name of counter-terrorism policy, and provides expanded coverage of aggression and crimes against peace.
Review
Acclaim for the Previous Edition:
"Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law."
--Richard J. Goldstone
"A timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject... An outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly. This excellent book provides a thoroughly researched and within which these and other complex issues may be examined. It combines scholarly erudition with a practical sense and thus provides a valuable instrument for the pursuit of international justice. It is indispensable reading for students, practitioners, scholars and others interested in accountability for gross human rights abuses."
--The American Journal of International Law
Review
Acclaim for the Previous Edition:
"Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law."
--Richard J. Goldstone
"A timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject... An outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly. This excellent book provides a thoroughly researched and within which these and other complex issues may be examined. It combines scholarly erudition with a practical sense and thus provides a valuable instrument for the pursuit of international justice. It is indispensable reading for students, practitioners, scholars and others interested in accountability for gross human rights abuses."
--The American Journal of International Law
Synopsis
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. This book offers a comprehensive study of the promise and limitations of international criminal law as a means of enforcing international human rights and humanitarian law. It provides a searching analysis of the principal crimes under the law of nations, such as genocide and crimes against humanity and an appraisal of 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.
This fully updated new edition also contains expanded coverage of the increasing numbers of international criminal trials including the cases of Bosnia, Serbia, and East Timor. It also explores individual accountability for terrorist acts and accountability for acts undertaken in the name of counter-terrorism policy, and provides expanded coverage of aggression and crimes against peace.
About the Author
Steven R. Ratner, is Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
Jason S. Abrams, Consultant to the United Nations
James L. Bischoff, Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State
Table of Contents
PART I: 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: Complicity, Defenses, and Other
PART II: 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-Prosecural Options: Investigatory Commissions, Civil Suits, Immigration Measures, and Lustration
11: Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance
12: Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance
PART III: A CASE STUDY: THE ATTROCITIES OF THE KHMER ROUGE
12: The Khmer Rouge Rule over Cambodia: A Historical Overview
13: Applying the Law
14: Engaging the Mechanism
PART IV: CONCLUSIONS
15: Striving for Justice: The Prospects for Individual Accountability
Appendices