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Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti died at the hands of Iraqi officials at dawn on 30 December 2006 following a tumultuous fourteen month trial for crimes committed against the citizens of a relatively obscure Iraqi village known as al-Dujail. Prior to the sporadic small arms fire on 8 July 1982 that was perceived by Saddam as an attempted assassination, the Trial Judgment describes al-Dujail as a 'safe town … rich in fruit gardens irrigated from the Tigris river through canals and water pumps'. The people of Dujail enjoyed a good standard of living, and the local party membership 'was mixed between Shiites and Sunnites'. Iraqi citizens were imprisoned in the aftermath of that July day; many were tortured and dozens were murdered. An eyewitness testified at trial that three months after the incident, the fields and orchards of Dujail were razed and all of the fruit trees carted off and destroyed by regime tractors, bulldozers, international type cars and six-wheel drive vehicles For specialists in international humanitarian law, the conviction of these acts as the crime against humanity of inhumane acts may become the very embodiment of that catch-all crime. Destroying the sustenance and prosperity of and entire village is the epitome of acts 'intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to the body or to the mental or physical health'. The al-Dujail trial is a metaphor for our common struggle to build the rule of law around the world.

Pitanje prava drzava na samoodbranu je jedno od fundamentalnih pitanja medjunarodnog javnog prava. Ovo nacelo koji postoji koliko i samo medjunarodno pravo, formulisano je na univerzalan nacin sredinom proslog vijeka, i postoje mnogi pisani radovi o njegovoj izradi i tumacenju. Pozivanje na samoodbranu kroz cijelu istoriju je koristeno kao opravdanje za zloupotrebu sile od strane drzava van svojih teritorija. ; Question of right of states to self-defense is one of the fundamental questions of public international law. This principle, which exists just as long as public international law does, was formulated in universal manner by the mid 20th century and there are many written works on its formulation and interpretation. Invoking self-defense during the course of history was used as a pretext for the use of force by the states outside of its territories. Right of states to self-defense originates from customary international law. During antic and medieval times, principle of self-defense was linked to the theory of just war which was differently interpreted in different times. In the period between two world wars, still there was no absolute prohibition of the use of force in international relations so the principle of self-defense was linked to the right of self-help through use of different forcible measures: retorsions, reprisals, naval blockade, intervention and demonstration of naval power. Contrary to the period of League of Nations, mechanism of implementation of international law was centralized by the foundation of the United Nations because a single body – Security Council – was entrusted with the authority to determine when the use of force is allowed in international law. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter defines that the states have a right to individual or collective self-defense in case of armed attack on the UN member state. This right is considered legitimate until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.

Writing about the Eritrean conflict in the Horn of Africa is a difficult task, because it involves the issue of dismembership of a state. From the Greek Empire to the Roman, from the feudal era to the colonial times, and now in the post-colonial era, dismembership of the state has been a highly controversial and emotional issue. From the colonial era to decolonization, Africans did not have to face this problem. In fact, not only did they applaud the dismembership of the colonial empire, they worked hard to insure the disintegration of the colonies. In their optimism for the future of Africa, they developed a rhetoric that went beyond cooperation among future independent states to continental political unity. "Africa must unite" said the vibrant and dynamic leader of Ghana, Nkrumah.

The trial of the core members of the terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF) provided the backdrop to what was the final crescendo of the most tumultuous period in West German history. The trial began in May 1975, with the verdict in Spring 1977 giving way to the "German Autumn," a violent few months that climaxed with a kidnapping, a hijacking and the prison deaths of the RAF leaders. The defense strategy for the trial was to frustrate the process and ignore the charges in favor of using the proceedings to present the RAF cause and RAF identity. This article outlines how the extralegal use of the high-profile case as a platform to communicate with an audience beyond the courtroom was grounded in an instrumentalization of international legal conventions on "political prisoners" and "prisoners of war" as hooks for the RAF's rhetoric of anti-fascism and anti-imperialism.

Introduction -- Statehood, state failure and state-building in international law -- Self-determination and state-building in international law -- The right to self-determination for the people of an independent state : an overview -- The right to self-determination for the people of an independent state : an interpretation -- State-building in somalia 2000-2012: what role for self-determination? -- Concluding remarks.

Implementation of state defense in Indonesia can be implemented in military and non-military. Civilians can also be involved in state defense including in thoseconducted militarily, therefore this study is aimed at examining how national lawarrangements regulate the involvement of civilians in state defense which may beinvolved in military defense and how international humanitarian law regulates theinvolvement of civilians. This research uses normative legal research. The result ofthe research shows that involvement of civilians in military state defense can affectthem losing the protection they should enjoy in armed conflict.