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
"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, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law....This volume...is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner."--Richard J. Goldstone, Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa, and former Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
"In their comprehensive and sober examination of the efforts to direct substantive international law from states to individuals and to invent effective mechanisms for personal accountability, Ratner and Abrams have produced a valuable, timely, indeed indispensable work. It will surely influence the formation of the United Nations International Criminal Court. More important, it will focus attention on the wide range of other techniques the authors identify for making individuals accountable for human rights atrocities."--W. M. Reisman, Wesley N. Hohfeld Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School, and former President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
"This excellent book provides a thoroughly researched and eloquently written survey of the legal and policy framework 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.
Synopsis
More than fifty years after the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, nations still struggle with the necessity of holding individuals accountable for human rights violations. This book offers an unprecedented progress report on this crucial enterprise. After examining the scope of international crime, the mechanisms created by states for enforcing laws, and the practical difficulties of applying such laws, the authors conclude their comprehensive study with an important assessment of the future of 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.
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