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.

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.

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.

British War Crimes Trials in Europe and Asia, 1945–1949: A Comparative Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 669-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.L. CHEAH ◽  
MORITZ VORMBAUM
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Second World War ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
British Military ◽  
Trial Experience ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
Second World ◽  
War Crimes Trial

AbstractBetween 1945 and 1949, the British military conducted a large number of war crimes trials in Europe and Asia. Based on historical archival records, among other sources, this article evaluates and compares the British authorities’ implementation of the 1945 Royal Warrant and war crimes trials in Europe and Asia, with a specific focus on trials organized in Germany and Singapore. By examining the British war crimes trial experience in those two jurisdictions, the article analyzes factors shaping the evolution of the Royal Warrant's legal framework and trial model in different contexts. It therefore contributes to the growing historical work on post-Second World War trials and current debates among scholars of transitional justice and international criminal law on the contextual factors that impact on war crimes trials.

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.

THE ALLIED NEUTRAL? PORTUGUESE BALANCE OF PAYMENTS WITH THE UK AND GERMANY IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-1945

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-110
Author(s):  
Eric Golson
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Third Party ◽  
World War ◽  
Portuguese Empire ◽  
Active Choice ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second World

ABSTRACTIn September 1939, Portugal made a realist strategic choice to preserve the Portuguese Empire maintaining by its neutrality and also remaining an ally of Great Britain. While the Portuguese could rely largely on their colonies for raw materials to sustain the mainland, the country had long depended on British transportation for these goods and the Portuguese military. With the British priority now given to war transportation, Portugal's economy and Empire were particularly vulnerable. The Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar sought to mitigate this damage by maintaining particularly friendly financial relations with the British government, including increased exports of Portuguese merchandise and services and permission to accumulate credits in Sterling to cover deficits in the balance of payments. This paper gives an improved set of comprehensive statistics for the Anglo-Portuguese and German–Portuguese relationships, reported in Pounds and according to international standards. The reported statistics include the trade in merchandise, services, capital flows, loans and third-party transfers of funds in favour of the British account. When compared with the German statistics, the Anglo-Portuguese figures show the Portuguese government favoured the British in financial relations, an active choice by Salazar to maintain the Portuguese Empire.

A ‘Sound Investment’? British Cultural Diplomacy and Overseas Students: The British Council's Students Committee, 1935–1939

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-283
Author(s):  
Alice Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Overseas Students ◽  
British Council ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
Run Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second World

This article explores the UK government's first foray into cultural diplomacy by focusing on the activities of the British Council's Students Committee in the run-up to the Second World War. Students were placed at the heart of British cultural diplomacy, which drew on foreign models as well as the experience of intra-empire exchanges. While employing cultural internationalist discourse, the drive to attract more overseas students to the United Kingdom was intended to bring economic and political advantages to the host country. The British Council pursued its policy in cooperation with non-state actors but ultimately was guided by the Foreign Office, which led it to target key strategic regions, principally in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin.

scholarly journals CONSERVATIVE PARTY AND THE PROBLEMS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR (on the pages of “Diary of a diplomat” by I. M. Maisky)

2016 ◽  
pp. 32-37
Author(s):  
E. V. Khakhalkina
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Early Years ◽  
World War ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second World

The “Diary” of the Soviet diplomat I. M. Maisky, who worked in London for more than ten years first as a messenger, then as the Soviet ambassador to the UK, is one of the valuable sources for the interwar period and the Second World War. The “Diary” contains records of Maisky’s conversations with the leading British politicians and public figures and his own thoughts on a wide range of issues, including the problems of the British Empire. The author of the paper analyzes the views of the Tories on the prospects for the British Empire and the Commonwealth of the postwar period and reveals the plans for the reconstruction of the Empire and its transformation while maintaining the dominant position of Britain in the format of a new relationship with the dominions and colonies. The paper shows that within the British political establishment there was no consensus on the future of the empire and, as the materials of the “Diary of diplomat” evidence, the problem of the evolution of the Empire had a close relationship with other areas of foreign and domestic policy.

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