International Justice

Khmer Rouge Leader Dies, a New Blow to a Stagnant UN Tribunal

• March 14, 2013

Ieng Sary, a co-founder and the third-highest official in the murderous Khmer Rouge movement that decimated Cambodian society in the 1970s, died in a Phnom Penh hospital on March 14 at age 87. The death of Ieng Sary, who became the public face of the Khmer Rouge as the regime’s foreign minister, robs the …

Asia, International Justice

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The International Court Judge’s Fight for Justice

Lorraine Boissoneault

• February 21, 2013

The president of the International Criminal Court, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, told a Columbia University audience recently that a major challenge facing the court is what he called a steady lack of political support from the United Nations Security Council and UN member states. “We need a far more consistent and vigilant approach by …

ICC, International Justice, Security Council

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WORLDVIEWS

The Quest for Peace and Calm in the Pacific

Jayantha Dhanapala

• January 17, 2013

KANDY, Sri Lanka — As the focus of global political and economic power shifts to the Asia-Pacific region and the United States feels compelled to pivot its strategic forces from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the relationship among major East Asian countries acquires critical importance. Residual cold war disputes across the Atlantic are likely …

Asia, International Justice, Peace and Security, WORLDVIEWS

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Rape in War: It’s Not a Given Any Longer

Dulcie Leimbach

• January 9, 2013

One of Fatou Bensouda‘s missions as the new chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court is to make rape during conflicts a thing of the past. Until 20 years ago, she said in a speech at the United Nations recently, sexual violence and other sexual attacks were “all but ignored and dismissed as regrettable …

Africa, Child Soldiers, Human Rights, ICC, International Justice, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

Can Making Amends to Victims of Atrocities Actually Help?

Nomvuyo Nolutshungu

• October 16, 2012

The conclusion of the International Criminal Court’s first trial this summer was duly noted in global media and political circles. Yet little attention was paid to the equally landmark move by the court mandating reparations for victims of the atrocities committed by the man who was sentenced for the war crimes case, Thomas Lubanga …

Child Soldiers, ICC, International Justice

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Charles Taylor, 64, Receives 50-Year Sentence for War Crimes

Dulcie Leimbach

• May 30, 2012

Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity in April for acts committed during a civil war in the 1990s in the West African country of Sierra Leone, was sentenced today to 50 years’ imprisonment. Taylor, 64, was found guilty of all 11 counts against him, …

Africa, Child Soldiers, International Justice

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Defending the International Criminal Court From the Outside

Dulcie Leimbach

• April 30, 2012

The International Criminal Court‘s judgment against the warlord Thomas Lubanga for conscripting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed that “a permanent international criminal court is on the job,” Stephen Rapp, ambassador at large for the US State Department, said at Columbia University Law School this month. The Lubanga guilty verdict …

Child Soldiers, ICC, International Justice

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BOOKS

The Ultimate War Crimes Expert, Back in the Game

Barbara Crossette

• April 1, 2012

No American diplomat or scholar of international law has been more deeply involved than David Scheffer in the creation of virtually every war crimes court from the catastrophic implosion of Yugoslavia to the long-overdue reckoning for the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Now, in a new book, “All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of …

BOOKS, ICC, International Justice

The International Criminal Court’s Stance on Torture

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 30, 2012

People who deal professionally with victims of physical and psychological torture want to not only heal their patients but also stop torture dead in its tracks. So they were pleased to learn that like other individuals or groups, they could submit evidence they had gathered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, …

Child Soldiers, ICC, International Justice

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GOINGS-ON

There’s Another Court in The Hague

Barbara Crossette

• November 20, 2011

Government suppression of revolts in several Arab nations and violence and rights abuses in some parts of Africa have drawn increased attention to the International Criminal Court, the first such permanent tribunal created to try individuals for war crimes, genocide and other gross violations. Less attention is paid to another permanent court in The …

GOINGS-ON, International Justice

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WORLDVIEWS

Sticking With a Story After the Media Forget

Roger Nokes

• November 7, 2011

Do you want know what happens to news reports in parts of the world after they seemingly drop from the front page? Do you get frustrated by constant coverage of certain stories at the expense of others? Do you think that the US media and the US foreign policy establishment should pay some attention …

Africa, International Justice, WORLDVIEWS

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GOINGS-ON

Four Candidates Named at The Hague Court

PassBlue

• October 25, 2011

The International Criminal Court has released the names of four candidates short-listed for the December 2011 election of the chief prosecutor to replace Luis Moreno-Ocampo, an Argentine whose nonrenewable term is expiring in June 2012. The court is the first and only permanent international court that tries people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, …

GOINGS-ON, ICC, International Justice

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WORLDVIEWS

Saving the Troubled Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Barbara Crossette

• October 21, 2011

[This essay was updated on Nov. 23, 2011] The United Nations sent its top legal official to Cambodia this week in a belated effort to deal directly with the threatened implosion of a war crimes tribunal charged with bringing to trial leaders of the apocalyptic Communist regime that presided over the deaths of at …