The contribution of the Emperor Asoka Maurya to the development of the humanitarian ideal in warfare

1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (305) ◽  
pp. 192-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.I.A.D. Draper
Keyword(s):  
War Crimes ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
The University ◽  
Legal Staff ◽  
Second World

Gerald Draper (1914–1989) was the foremost specialist in humanitarian law of his generation in the United Kingdom, and was well-respected in the law of war community worldwide. He was a Military Prosecutor in the war crimes trials in Germany after the Second World War, and following his retirement from the Army Legal Staff became a distinguished academic, finishing as Professor of Law at the University of Sussex. Draper was a delegate to many International Conferences of the Red Cross as well as to the Diplomatic Conference which drafted the Additional Protocols of 1977.

The First Wave of International War Crimes Trials: Istanbul and Leipzig

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN KRAMER
Keyword(s):  
War Crimes ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
International War ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World ◽  
Foundation Stone

The Nuremberg tribunal following the Second World War is universally considered as the foundation stone of international law with regard to war crimes and crimes against humanity. It may come as a surprise, however, to learn that the first international attempts to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity came at the end of the First World War, with trials held at Allied prompting in Turkey and Germany.

Building a Case against the War Criminals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Aszkielowicz
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Second World War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

Long before the Second World War ended, the Allies were planning to prosecute Axis war criminals, including both those in positions of leadership and the perpetrators of individual crimes. There was no standing war crimes court at the end of the Second World War, however, and the post-war trials were a watershed in international law. For the trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo, Allied planners drew on the development of international humanitarian law and international agreements signed by the combatants over the decades preceding the war. The vast majority of war criminals who were prosecuted did not face the court at Nuremberg or Tokyo: they appeared before national military tribunals which were conducted according to each prosecuting country’s war crimes law. The Australian War Crimes Act passed through the parliament in October 1945, shortly before trials began.

The urgent need to apply the rules of humanitarian law to so-called internal armed conflicts

1961 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 250-257
Author(s):  
Boško Jakovljevlć ◽  
Jovica Patrnogić
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Second World ◽  
General Condemnation ◽  
Great Victory

The 12th of August 1949 is without doubt one of the most important dates in humanitarian law and in the development of the idea of the protection of man. It was then that four new Conventions were adopted in Geneva relative to the protection of victims of armed conflicts. In so far as they express general condemnation of war crimes committed during the Second World War, as well as the determination to prevent their recurrence in any possible sort of future conflict, the Geneva Conventions must be regarded as a bastion for the protection of all victims of armed conflict as well as a serious warning to all those who might be disposed to make a misuse of force or violate humanitarian principles. This great victory of the humanitarian spirit and of the principles which it inspires, by virtue of which one should not only avoid inflicting suffering on those who are deprived of protection or on non-combatants, but one should also accord them assistance and care for them if necessary, is due to a large extent to the Red Cross. The forces of progress have given their support to this idea and have made possible its realization within the framework of the International Conventions of the Red Cross. The new Geneva Conventions, which in the evolution of humanitarian law at present represent a decisive phase in a given sector, constitute an extremely solid and complete legal code which has been meticulously drawn up and which is both logical and coherent.

Why were there no war crimes trials for the Korean War?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Sandra Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Korean War ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
Second World

Abstract In the Korean War of 1950-53, U.S. authorities were determined to pursue atrocities perpetrated by North Korean and Communist Chinese forces through legal channels, in keeping with the standards they believed they had set after the Second World War. Yet, their plans foundered in Korea, despite extensive groundwork for prosecutions. Four factors were responsible. First, it was difficult to find reliable evidence and to identify and apprehend suspects. Second, U.S. officials rapidly lost confidence in the idea of prosecuting national leaders. Third, the lack of clear-cut victory in the conflict necessitated a diplomatic solution, which was incompatible with war crimes trials. Fourth, the moral standing of the West, and hence its authority to run trials, was undermined by the large number of atrocities committed by the United Nations side. Thus, the U.S. plan for war crimes trials was dropped without fanfare, to be replaced by an anti-Communist propaganda campaign.

War Reprisals in the War Crimes Trials and in the Geneva Conventions of 1949

1953 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 590-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
A . R. Albrecht
Keyword(s):  
War Crimes ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
World War ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Theory Of War ◽  
The One ◽  
Second World

The war crimes trials following the second World War and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 have posed a question about war reprisals which is likely to be important in any future war and which has immediate practical significance in the current wars in Asia. On the one hand, the trials have transformed the previously sketchy rules on reprisals into a more comprehensive and elaborate system of control. On the other hand, the Geneva Conventions have provided for almost the complete abolition of reprisals in the very area for which the rules of control were formulated. Moreover, the conventions remain unratified by many of the major Powers, of which at least one has already demonstrated its inability to observe the abolition of reprisals. The core of the problem concerns reprisals against civilian persons in occupied territories, for this was by far the most significant point in the trials on reprisals and was the subject of the most outstanding innovation introduced by the Geneva Conventions. Nevertheless, the issues raised by the contradiction between the trials and the conventions cannot properly be discussed without reference to the general theory of war reprisals.

scholarly journals Culture and understanding in the Singapore war crimes trials (1946–1948): interpreting arguments of the defence

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 87-109
Author(s):  
W.L. Cheah
Keyword(s):  
War Crimes ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
British Military ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
Defence Counsel ◽  
Culturally Influenced ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second World

Abstract After the Second World War, the British military organised 131 war crimes trials in Singapore, which served as the base for British war crimes investigations in Asia. These trials brought together diverse participants-judges and counsel from the UK, India, and other Allied countries; accused persons from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan; defence counsel from Japan; and witnesses from all over Asia. The majority of defendants in these trials did not deny their involvement in the war crimes concerned; instead, these defendants argued that their conduct was consistent with Japanese norms, beliefs and practices. This article explores trial participants' varied and contested interpretations of the culturally influenced arguments put forward by the defence.

scholarly journals The Humanitarian Aid of the Joint Relief Commission of the International Red Cross in France to the civil population: children, women and internees (1940-1946)

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 022
Author(s):  
Luiza Iordache Cârstea
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Charitable Organizations ◽  
Second World

The objective of this article is the analysis of the humanitarian relief work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the League of the Red Cross Societies through a joint body, the Joint Relief Committee (JRC), in France during the Second World War. Based on the treaties, convention and draft projects that shed light on the evolution and consolidation of the International Humanitarian Law relating to civilian defence and on the specialized bibliography, reports of the ICRC and the JRC, documentary sources of the ICRC Archives, and photo library of the same organization, the article focuses on humanitarian aid and priorities of the JRC in favour of the civilian population most vulnerable to and affected by war: children, women and internees in the concentration camps in South of France. This study, accompanied by photos, maps and quantitative data, sheds light on the channels of humanitarian action, the charitable organizations, associations, institutions, foundations, etc., that made this possible, as well as the loopholes and limitations of international humanitarian law, with important consequences for human life during a major conflict such as the Second World War.

Hendrik Draye, tegenstander van de uitvoering van de doodstraf

2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-152
Author(s):  
Luc Vandeweyer
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Penal Policy ◽  
Catholic University ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
Second World ◽  
Young Professor

Hendrik Draye, opponent of the carrying out of the death penaltyIn this annotated and extensively contextualised source edition, Luc Vandeweyer deals with the period of repression after the Second World War. In June 1948, after the execution of two hundred collaboration-suspects in Belgium, the relatively young linguistics professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, Hendrik Draye, proposed, on humanitarian grounds, a Manifesto against the carrying out of the death penalty. Some colleagues, as well as some influential personalities outside the university, reacted positively; some colleagues were rather hesitant; most of them rejected the text. In the end, the initiative foundered because of the emphatic dissuasion by the head of university, who wanted to protect his university and, arguably, the young professor Draeye. The general public’s demand for revenge had not yet abated by then; moreover, the unstable government at that time planned a reorientation of the penal policy, which made a polarization undesirable. Nevertheless, Luc Vandeweyer concludes, "the opportunity for an important debate on the subject had been missed".

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