scholarly journals DISEASE BEARING INSECT RESEARCH IN MALAYA BY JAPANESE SCIENTISTS DURING WORLD WAR II AND ITS POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (26) ◽  
pp. 69-89
Author(s):  
Marina Abdul Majid
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Scrub Typhus ◽  
Human Experimentation ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
World War ◽  
Actual Usage ◽  
Conducting Research

Japanese scientists commissioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) were tasked at the Nettai Igaku Kenkyusho or Institute of Medical Research (IMR) in Kuala Lumpur and other locations in Malaya during World War II (WWII) to identify cures for malaria, dengue, and scrub typhus rampant among Japanese troops in Southeast Asia. Such research on insects could contribute to biological warfare. This study identifies the background and destiny of these few Japanese scientists in Malaya conducting research on malaria, dengue and scrub typhus while evaluating if their research could have been an offense under international law at that point of time. A qualitative historical approach relying on documentation, soft law, treaties, and secondary resources obtained from archives and national libraries online from different countries and the Fold3-Historical Military Records website were referred. These documentations were classified according to names of Japanese scientists to form a short biography and to provide background information of the IMR during WWII. The results reveal some Japanese scientists responsible for malaria research at the IMR in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, and dengue research in Malaya, Singapore and Java. Human experimentation associated with dengue was suspected in Singapore. One IMR Japanese director had links with Unit 731. Kiyoshi Hayakawa, part of Unit 9420 in Singapore, Japan’s subunit for its covert biological weapons programme conducted research on scrub typhus in Java and Malaya. These scientists continued as professors in Japan or were promoted to this position much later with one of them opening a medical company. Indeed, a gap existed in international law at the end of the 19th and early 20th century which failed to make experimentation illegal as a preparation stage rather than actual usage in warfare because of the omission to address the development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons.

scholarly journals Criminal Proceedings Against Albers

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 632-638
Author(s):  
Filippo Fontanelli
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Sovereign Immunity ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Court Of Appeal

In August 2012, the First Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation (Supreme Court or Court), the highest Italian domestic court, issued a judgment upholding Germany’s sovereign immunity from civil claims brought by Italian war crime victims against Paul Albers and eight others in the Italian courts (Albers). In so doing, the Court overruled its own earlier decisions and also reversed the judgment of April 20, 2011, by the Italian Military Court of Appeal (Military Court), which had upheld such claims relating to war crimes committed by German forces in Italy during World War II. With this ruling, the Court of Cassation put an end to its decade long effort to find an exception to the well-known rule of customary international law providing for sovereign immunity from foreign civil jurisdiction for actsjure imperii. Thisrevirementresulted from the Court’s decision to give effect to the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) inGermany v. Italy.

Structural Integrity in Merchant Ships

1980 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. T. Rolfe
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Background Information ◽  
World War ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Marine Industry ◽  
History Of ◽  
Brittle Fractures ◽  
Fracture Control ◽  
Periodic Changes

Since World War II, periodic changes in the fabrication, design, and material specifications for ship steels have been made to preclude brittle fractures. These various changes are described briefly, along with a history of fracture control for ships to serve as background information for a discussion of the present-day structural integrity program for ships in the marine industry. As additional information related to the structural integrity of ship structures, a review of two recent ship failures (e.g., the Ingram Barge in 1972 and the Chester A. Poling in 1977) is presented to demonstrate some of the factors involved in brittle fractures of ships. In both of these failures there were other factors contributing to the final brittle fractures that were more important than the notch toughness levels. These factors are reviewed as the basis for an observation regarding the overall structural integrity of merchant ships.

Mustard Gas and American Race-Based Human Experimentation in World War II

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan L. Smith
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chemical Warfare ◽  
Human Experimentation ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Mustard Gas ◽  
World War ◽  
The Impact

During World War II, scientists funded by the United States government conducted mustard gas experiments on 60,000 American soldiers as part of military preparation for potential chemical warfare. One aspect of the chemical warfare research program on mustard gas involved race-based human experimentation. In at least nine research projects conducted during the 1940s, scientists investigated how so-called racial differences affected the impact of mustard gas exposure on the bodies of soldiers. Building on cultural beliefs about “race,” these studies occurred on military bases and universities, which became places for racialized human experimentation.

scholarly journals Nazi Crimes in Poland. A Never-Ending Search for Justice

2019 ◽  
pp. 142-160
Author(s):  
Hanna Kuczyńska
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
World War ◽  
National Courts ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Efficient Machine

This article deals with the model for prosecuting Nazi crimes committed in Poland in the light of the model presently used in international criminal law. It tries to answer the question: should the investigation of crimes of international law be handed over to transnational tribunals? Should they be hybrid tribunals involving a national factor, or completely supra-national tribunals like the International Criminal Court? Is it legitimate to transfer jurisdiction over these matters to national courts? The case of unpunished Nazi crimes in Poland may give a partial answer to this question. Certainly, various attempts made after World War II, including procedures brought before Polish courts, have contributed to understanding the function of international criminal law, and finding the answer to the question of the best model for prosecuting crimes of international law. At present, we also have the experience of international criminal tribunals, in particular the ICC, which is an efficient machine for prosecuting crimes of international law. Interesting conclusions can be drawn from its functioning that could improve the work of Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) prosecutors, and shed new light on the considerations regarding the prosecution of Nazi crimes in Poland after World War II.

scholarly journals The (Immediate) Post-World War II Period

2020 ◽  
pp. 168-189
Author(s):  
Antonello Tancredi
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
World War ◽  
Post World War Ii ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Domestic Law

This chapter addresses the development, after World War II, of two different currents of thought inherited by the Italian international law doctrine from the interwar period: dogmatism and structuralism. The analysis of some fundamental writings concerning topics such as the foundation and the social structure of the international legal order tries to offer a reading lens on some of the most important scientific trends (especially ‘realism’ and ‘neo-normativism’) of the post-World War II period and on the scholars that animated such approaches. Thanks to the identification of some structuring ideas, it will then be possible to briefly examine other issues concerning, for instance, the relationship between international and domestic law after the 1948 Republican Constitution, sovereignty, etc. The evolution of the methodology of international law will have a relevant part in the analysis of theoretical approaches developed by Italian scholars in this period.

scholarly journals Constitutional law and international law at the turn of the century

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
JA Frowein
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
International Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
World War ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Constitution Making

Constitutional law and international law operate in simultaneous conjunction and reciprocal tension. Both fields seem to have overcome the great challenges of destruction and neglect in the course of the 20th century. Both after World War I and World War II the world experienced new waves of constitution making. In both cases the current German constitutions (the Weimar Constitution of 1919 and the Grundgesetz of 1949) were influential. Characteristic of constitution-making in this century, is the final victory of liberal constitutions based on the rule of law, the Rechtsstaat, fundamental rights, meaningful control of public powers and the establishment of constitutional courts. Following the destruction of World War II, the notion of the Sozialstaat emerged strongly in Germany. In contrast to the Constitution of the United States of America, the principle of the responsibility of the state for social justice has emerged in almost all new constitutions, including Russia, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Where courts are given the mandate to interpret bills of rights, fundamental rights have been developed into foundation stones of the legal system. The presence in a Bill of Rights of restrictive clauses, is important for its analysis. Generally restrictive clauses in new constitutions try to limit the possibilities of restriction. The importance of constitutional rules establishing and legitimizing the political organs, must not be overlooked. Of particular importance is the degree of control over the head of state, a positive attitude among political actors towards the constitution and the protection of the interests of minorities in a democratic system. In the field of Public International Law much of Kant's ideal of an international confederation of peace has been realized. Since 1990 the United Nation's Security Council has shown the potential of becoming a directorate for the community ofnations. International law has also been instrumental in the worldwide recognition of human rights. Especially in Europe, Convention Law has had a strong impact. Furthermore, global and regional systems of regulation have tended to alter the legal attitude towards state sovereignty. It may be that the South African constitutional approach in terms of which international law is subject to constitutional and other national law, is not in line with international tendencies.

scholarly journals International Recognition and the International Law Status of Poland in the 20th Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-48
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Dynia
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
International Law ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
World War ◽  
The Third ◽  
International Recognition ◽  
The Status

The article concerns international recognition of the Polish state established after World War I in the year 1918, the Polish state and the status of Poland in terms of international law during World War II and after its conclusion until the birth of the Third Polish Republic in the year 1989. A study of related issues confirmed the thesis of the identity and continuity of the Polish state by international law since the year 1918, as solidified in Polish international law teachings, and showed that the Third Polish Republic is, under international law, not a new state, but a continuation of both the Second Polish Republic as well as the People’s Republic of Poland.

Microbes for War and Peace

Germ Wars ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
World War ◽  
High Security ◽  
Modern Warfare ◽  
The U.S

When the U.S. military created a bioweapons research program at Fort Detrick, Maryland, following World War II, it enlisted microbiology in the production of modern warfare. Biological weapons magnify the potential of germs to harm humans, remaking the terms of risk to account for natures that have been engineered to be more contagious, fatal, and far-reaching. This alliance between war and science also bracketed certain ways of knowing nature by creating spaces and mechanisms to control microbes according to human desires. Beyond the weapon itself, bioweapons research promulgated knowledge of containment, designing top-secret, high-security laboratory spaces for the safe study of deadly microbes, thereby materializing the belief that microbes must (and could) be contained.

Intertwined Itineraries: Debt, Decolonization, and International Law in Post-World War II South Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Kalyani Ramnath
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
South Asian ◽  
World War Two ◽  
British India ◽  
World War ◽  
Japanese Occupation ◽  
East Indies ◽  
Postwar Reconstruction ◽  
State Practice

This Article brings a Tamil-speaking Chettiar widow and a Dutch scholar of international law - two seemingly disparate characters - together through a footnote. Set against the background of decolonizing South and Southeast Asia in the aftermath of World War Two, it follows the judgment in a little-known suit for recovery of debt, filed at a district-level civil court in Madras in British India, which escaped the attention of local legal practitioners, but made its way into an international law treatise compiled and written in Utrecht, twenty years later. Instead of using it to trace how South Asian judiciaries interpreted international law, the Article looks at why claims to international law were made by ordinary litigants like Chettiar women in everyday cases like debt settlements, and how they became “evidence” of state practice for international law. These intertwined itineraries of law, that take place against the Japanese occupation of Burma and the Dutch East Indies and the postwar reconstruction efforts in Rangoon, Madras and Batavia, show how jurisdictional claims made by ordinary litigants form an underappreciated archive for histories of international law. In talking about the creation and circulation of legal knowledges, this Article argues that this involves thinking about and writing from footnotes, postscripts and marginalia - and the lives that are intertwined in them.

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