The Crime of Enforced Disappearance of Persons When Political Organisations Commit Crimes against Humanity

The road to developing an international institutional capacity to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide has been a long one, and has in many ways concluded with the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC). By looking at the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), as well as the ICC, this paper traces the evolution of the concept of individual criminal responsibility to its present incarnation. It argues that while the ICC presents its own unique ‘added value’ to the prosecution of international criminals, its application of justice continues to be biased by the influence of powerful states.

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Eco-Struggles

10.1093/oso/9780198784630.003.0011 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew Gillett

Keyword(s):

Criminal Law ◽

Rome Statute ◽

International Criminal ◽

War Crimes ◽

Armed Conflicts ◽

International Criminal Law ◽

Crimes Against Humanity ◽

Environmental Harm ◽

Jus Post Bellum

This chapter examines the provisions of international criminal law applicable to serious environmental harm, particularly during non-international armed conflicts ('NIAC'). After describing incidents of serious environmental harm arising in armed conflicts, the analysis surveys the provisions of international criminal law applicable to environmental harm during NIACs, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression. It then examines the basis for extending to NIACs the protection against military attacks causing excessive environmental harm (set out in Art. 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute), which is currently only applicable in IACs. The examination of this possible amendment of the Rome Statute covers a broad range of instruments and laws forming part of international and national legal codes, all addressing grave environmental harm. Finally, the analysis turns to accountability for environmental harm as a facet of jus post bellum, emphasizing the interconnected nature of environmental harm and cycles of violence and atrocities.

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Civilization, Religion, Peaceful and Non-Peaceful Change in Asia

The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190097356.013.16 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Victoria Tin-bor Hui

Keyword(s):

Sri Lanka ◽

Crimes Against Humanity ◽

Communal Violence ◽

Fertile Ground

This chapter seeks to reconcile the seemingly pacifist nature of Eastern religions and civilizations and the reality of terrorism, communal violence, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Asia. All religions promote peaceful change but justify violent change. All civilizations have Gandhi-like advocates for peaceful change but also leaders who agitate for violent change. Civilizational plurality and canonical ambiguity have paradoxically provided a fertile ground for the reduction of complex identities, which are more amenable to peaceful change, into singular ones, which are more prone to civilizational clashes. The weakness of inclusive institutions has further incentivized the politicization of religion. While singular ethnonational identities are constructed and can theoretically be deconstructed, they have tended to become hardened. The chapter anchors the analysis with Islam in Afghanistan and Indonesia; Hinduism in India; Buddhism in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Tibet; and Confucianism in China. It concludes that the rise of self-proclaimed civilization-states in recent years does not bode well for peaceful change.

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