Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law, 3rd Edition

Human Rights

Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law, 3rd Edition

Edited by Steven R. Ratner · Jason S. Abrams · James L. Bischoff
Oxford University Press February 2009

Specifications

ISBN-13
9780199546664
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication
February 2009
Format
Hardback
Jurisdiction
International ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

  • Fully updated new edition of this renowned volume, whose subject matter continues to grow in topicality and importance
  • Provides comprehensive examinations of substantive law and legal institutions involved, including the growing numbers of international courts and tribunals
  • Analyses the full range of mechanisms for accountability at the domestic and international levels
  • New examination of individual accountability for terrorist acts and accountability for acts undertaken in the name of counter-terrorism policy
  • Contains a classic case-study of the Khmer Rouge, now updated to cover the new tribunal for Cambodia

New to this edition

  • Significantly expanded coverage of the rapidly increasing numbers of international criminal courts and tribunals
  • Examines recent national trials including the cases of Bosnia, Serbia, and East Timor
  • New examination of individual accountability for terrorist acts and accountability for acts undertaken in the name of counter-terrorism policy
  • Expanded coverage of aggression and crimes against peace

This book explores the promises and limitations of holding individuals accountable for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. It analyses the principal crimes under international law, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and appraises both prosecutorial and other key mechanisms developed to bring individuals to justice. After applying their conclusions in a detailed case study, the authors offer a series of compelling conclusions on the prospects for accountability.

This fully updated new edition contains expanded coverage of national trials under universal jurisdiction, international criminal tribunals including the International Criminal Court, new hybrid tribunals in Cambodia and elsewhere, truth commissions, and lustration. It also explores individual accountability for terrorist acts and for abuses committed in the name of counter-terrorism policy.

Readership: Scholars and advanced students of international law, international criminal law, humanitarian law and human rights.

Table of Contents

PART I: SUBSTANTIVE LAW
1: Individual Accountability for Human Rights Abuses: Historical and Legal Underpinnings
2: Genocide and the Imperfections of Codification
3: Crimes Against Humanity and the Inexactitude of Custom
4: War Crimes and the Limitations of Accountability for Acts in Armed Conflict
5: Other Abuses Incurring Individual Responsibility under International Law
6: Expanding and Contracting Culpability: Complicity, Defenses, and Other Barriers to Criminality
PART II: MECHANISMS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
7: Mechanisms for Accountability: Framing the Issues
8: The Forum of First Resort: National Tribunals
9: The Progeny of Nuremberg: International Criminal Tribunals
10: Non-Prosecutorial Options: Investigatory Comissions, Civil Suits, Immigration Measures, and Lustration
11: Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance
PART III: A CASE STUDY: THE ATTROCITIES OF THE KHMER ROUGE
12: The Khmer Rouge Rule over Cambodia: A Historical Overview
13: Applying the Law
14: Engaging the Mechanisms
PART IV: CONCLUSIONS
15: Striving for Justice: The Prospects for Individual Accountability
Appendices

About the Author

Steven R. Ratner, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School, Jason S. Abrams, Consultant to the United Nations, and James L. Bischoff, Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State

Reviews

Review(s) from previous edition

"Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law. - Richard J. Goldstone

"a timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject ... an outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly ... This excellent book provides a thoroughly researched and eloquently written survey of the legal and policy framework within which these and other complex issues may be examined. It combines scholarly erudition with a practical sense and thus provides a valuable instrument for the pursuit of international justice. It is indispensable reading for students, practitioners, scholars and others interested in accountability for gross human rights abuses." - Payam Akhavan, The American Journal of International Law (Vol 93)

"The authors' analysis of the technical points are illuminating and their case study of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge makes the work all the more compelling." - Democracy & Development - Journal of West African Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 1,

"The breadth of research that has gone into producing this work is plain on every page...What for me is remarkable is that a work of such academic pedigree and intellectual excellence should be such an eminently readable review of all aspects of individual criminal responsibility and international criminal law past, present and potential." - Lord Bonomy, Senator of the College of Justice

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