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AbstractWaging war appears to be a constant feature of human behaviour. Until World War II, violations of the Law of War were generally punishable before national tribunals; this practice, however, proved unsatisfactory. The Nuremberg and Tokyo International War Crimes Tribunals appeared as the first successful attempts to delocalise proceedings related thereto, bearing in mind the absolute primacy of inflicting exemplary punishment on the guilty. The International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda upheld an extended definition of punishable crimes under Conventional and/or Customary Law, while instituting more guarantees of fairness, i.e.: judges chosen from outside the warring parties, rejection of the death penalty, awarding compensation to victims and ensuring the protection of witnesses. Despite the application of ex posto facto law, it is worth recalling that human rights protection is clearly identified as an essential focus of the later ad hoc tribunals. However, only the institution of a permanent international criminal tribunal seems conductive to setting the seal on the determination of the international community to put in place an effective deterrent to resorting to war as a means of settling inter-societal disputes.

Bangladesh is recently prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and genocide committed in the Liberation War of 1971 via a domestically operated tribunal, namely the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB). Though the Tribunal is preceded under municipal law, its material jurisdiction, i.e., crimes against humanity and genocide, originated from international criminal law. Therefore, this study examines several legal obligations of the ICTB in defining crimes against humanity and genocide as the core international crimes. First, I discuss several legal flaws of the Tribunal by defining crimes against humanity and genocide under the ICTB Statute and jurisprudence. Second, I scrutinize the legal status of international (treaty and customary) laws in Bangladesh's legal system. Third, by applying international criminal law standards, I focus on the idea that it is one of the obligations of Bangladesh to apply international criminal law definitions of genocide under the treaty obligation as the contracting parties to Genocide Convention 1948, and the ICC Statute 1998. Fourthly, I also discuss whether Bangladesh has any obligation to apply customary international law definition of crimes against humanity because crimes against humanity are considered jus cogens offenses in general international law, from which no derogation is permitted. Lastly, I conclude that Bangladesh Tribunal failed to fulfill its legal obligation to define international crimes under the treaty and customary laws and forward a way to be implemented to improve the legislative system of Bangladesh and harmonize it with international legislation.

The examination of the ethical and moral issues surrounding the reporting of war crimes signals one of the outstanding problems facing journalism in the contemporary era. As the nature of war has changed, so has the nature of the journalism mandated to cover it, and the selection of war crimes trials, tribunals and truth commissions are key places in which to analyse these changes. Journalists and news organizations are divided over the merits of testifying at international war crimes tribunals. To some degree, the debate about appearing before war crimes courts has split along European and US lines. A number of European journalists and documentary film makers willingly testified before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague whilst US journalists tend to see the subpoena power of the tribunals as a threat to First Amendment freedoms. Based on interviews conducted with journalists, editors, lawyers and humanitarian aid workers, this article explores questions of journalistic objectivity and impartiality; the verification of journalists' stories; the safety repercussions for journalists participating in international trials; and the implications for the erosion of confidentiality of journalists' sources.

Since 1991, a brutal war has raged among ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia. Outraged by the atrocities that have pervaded the war, the United Nations established an international tribunal in 1993 to adjudicate violations of international humanitarian law committed in the Yugoslav conflict. Although well-intentioned, the Yugoslav Tribunal nevertheless may fail to accomplish its goals. A number of practical and legal obstacles may impede its success. In particular, the United Nations lack of physical control over the combatants in the Yugoslav conflict may frustrate the Tribunal's ability to bring accused war criminals to justice. This Note surveys the problems that the Yugoslav Tribunal may encounter in attempting to prosecute violations of international humanitarian law. It examines the successes and failures of past war crimes tribunals and analyzes the integrity of the law the Yugoslav Tribunal will apply. This Note concludes that even if the Yugoslav Tribunal fails in its immediate goal of prosecuting war criminals, it may nevertheless expedite a peaceful resolution to the conflict and strengthen the stature of international humanitarian law.

The Scene of the Mass Crime takes up the unwritten history of the peculiar yet highly visible form of war crimes trials. These trials are the first and continuing site of the interface of law, history and film. From Nuremberg to the contemporary trials in Cambodia, film, in particular, has been crucial both as evidence of atrocity and as the means of publicizing the proceedings. But what does film bring to justice? Can law successfully address war crimes, atrocities, genocide? What do the trials actually show? What form of justice is done, and how does it relate to ordinary courts.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 The Background and Diplomatic Significance of the ICTY -- 2 The Nature of the Peace in the Former Yugoslavia: Heroes and Criminals - How to Distinguish Them? -- 3 The Political Landscape of Peace in the Balkans -- 4 The ICTY's Aspirations, its Statute, and Some of the Legal Inconsistencies in its Establishment -- 5 The First Indictments and What They Show -- 6 Crimes and Responsibility in a Civil War -- 7 Policy Issues -- 8 NATO and the ICTY -- Bibliography