Political Geography: Global Focus / Topic: War Crimes

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:: Here we propose a potential solution to the challenges surrounding the definition of war crimes we identified. In an effort to eliminate the confusion that results from over-reliance on prior criminalization, we distill the concept of war crimes down to its essence. A better approach, we argue here and in a forthcoming article, is to define war crimes as consisting of two key elements: (1) a breach of international humanitarian law (IHL) that is (2) “serious.” This approach is not only more jurisprudentially grounded, but it also has several benefits in the context of ongoing prosecutions of Syrian war criminals in Europe.
Topic:: Genocide, International Law, War Crimes, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Jared Genser
Publication Date:: 09-2018
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:: When it was adopted by the United Nations (UN) system in 2005, the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was meant to provide an implementation mechanism for the international community to respond to governments that were perpetrating the mass atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. As R2P is now in its second decade of existence, it is important to evaluate past implementation of R2P by the UN Security Council — the UN body charged with taking collective action when all other preventive efforts have failed and atrocity crimes are being committed or are imminent. This briefing paper is a summary of a more detailed law review article recently published in the University of Chicago Journal of International Law.
Topic:: Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing, International Community, Responsibility to Protect (R2P), UN Security Council, and Crimes Against Humanity
Political Geography:: United Nations and Global Focus

Author:: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Publication Date:: 08-2018
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:: During the 2005 United Nations World Summit, heads of state and government accepted the responsibility of every state to protect its population from four crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The first three crimes are legally defined in various international legal documents, such as the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols, and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Their status as international crimes is based on the belief that the acts associated with them affect the core dignity of human beings, both in times of peace and in times of war.
Topic:: Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing, and Crimes Against Humanity
Political Geography:: United Nations and Global Focus

Author:: Alex J. Bellamy and Adam Lupel
Publication Date:: 06-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: In the twenty years since the Rwandan genocide, the United Nations has developed an extensive body of policies, principles, and institutions dedicated to preventing mass atrocity crimes. But in recent years the killing of unarmed civilians has become all too prevalent again, from Syria to Iraq and South Sudan to the Central African Republic. So why does atrocity prevention fail? This is the central question addressed in the International Peace Institute’s new report, “Why We Fail: Obstacles to the Effective Prevention of Mass Atrocity.” The report explores the principal obstacles to effective prevention efforts and the strategies needed to improve the UN’s ability to respond. It considers the UN’s opportunities and constraints in different contexts, where the world body has a substantial field presence or limited or no presence on the ground
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Political Violence, Peacekeeping, and War Crimes
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Tuba İnal
Publication Date:: 05-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Th is article seeks to explain two related theoretical questions by looking at the treatment of two related practices of war, pillage and rape, by international law: How does change, particularly legalized regime change, happen in international relations and what is the role of “gender” as a category in this process of change? The argument here is that three conditions are necessary for the emergence of a legalized prohibition regime: Firstly, states must believe that they can comply with the prohibition because non-compliance is costly. Secondly, a normative context conducive to the idea that the particular practice is abnormal/undesirable is necessary. Thirdly, actors actively propagating these ideas to promote the creation of a particular regime should exist. The 100-year temporal difference between the emergence of the regimes against pillage and rape reveals the role of gender in this process.
Topic:: Gender Issues, International Law, and War Crimes
Political Geography:: Global Focus

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