Foreign Affairs · 1993 · 87 citations · 0 references
LawInternational LawInternational RelationsHumanitarian LawInternational Humanitarian LawPublic International LawCrimes Against HumanityInternational Criminal CourtsInternational JurisdictionSources Of International LawSpecialized International TribunalsWar CrimesGovernment AuthorityInternational Criminal ProsecutionInternational Humanitarian ResponseJurisdiction Over Crimes Against HumanitySecurity Council ResolutionsSummary ProceedingsWar Crimes ResponsibilityWar Crimes Trials
THE NEED TO ASSERT INTERNATIONAL LAW The credibility of international humanitarian law demands a war crimes tribunal to hold accountable those responsible for gross violations in the former Yugoslavia. Opponents in the bitter ethnic and religious conflict have subjected civilians to summary execution, torture, rape, mass internment, deportation, destruction or confisca tion of property and other violations of their rights. Many thousands have died. A war crimes tribunal, sought by the U.N. Security Council, would be the first since the Nuremberg and Far East trials following World War II. The Security Council's decision, embodied in U.N. Resolution 808, derives its binding authority from the U.N. Charter's Chapter VII provisions regarding threats to peace, breaches of peace and acts of aggression. The Security Council's determination that violations of international humanitarian law constitute a threat to