1. Accountability for War Crimes in Syria: The “Criminalization” Confusion
- Author:
- Oona A. Hathaway, Paul Strauch, Beatrice Walton, and Zoe Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Legal Challenges, Yale Law School
- Abstract:
- In 1942, three years before World War II came to a close, international lawyer Hersch Lauterpacht prepared a memorandum for the Committee on Crimes Against International Public Order. In it, he considered whether the Nazis should be tried for war crimes when the war ended. Before he could address when and whether to prosecute the Nazis for war crimes, he observed, it was first and foremost necessary to determine “what is a war crime.” Nearly 80 years later, this question looms yet again—this time in the horrific Syrian civil war. No international court or tribunal currently has jurisdiction over the vast crimes committed in Syria since 2011. It seems unlikely at the moment that Syria itself will provide an accounting, and the prospect of the United Nations Security Council agreeing to establish a new tribunal or refer the Syria situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) appears slim. As a result, domestic courts, mainly in Europe, have taken the lead in pursuing criminal accountability for crimes committed in Syria. The International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism (IIM), established by the UN General Assembly in 2016, is also beginning to assist domestic Syria-related prosecutions.
- Topic:
- International Law, United Nations, Humanitarian Intervention, and International Criminal Court (ICC)
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus