Account for War Crimes: the International Criminal Court

Along with many different crimes, there is a separate type that requires some attention from researchers. Illegal actions of this kind include war crimes. It is worth noting that they require special attention from the International Court of Justice and the Tribunal. This is due to the fact that this type of infringement is a violation of humanity and human rights in times of hostilities. Therefore, this scientific paper examines how an international court or tribunal has sought to hold states or individuals to account for war crimes.

Consequently, the first issue to pay attention to in the framework of this work is the study of the phenomenon of war crimes. An important aspect is that the sources note that “war crime tribunal is partial and operates with no regard for the policy purpose of reconciliation”¹. Moreover, this problem is a traumatic experience not only for the victims, but also for those who testify in court². Therefore, at present, it is necessary to draw the attention of the state and the public to this problem. If the necessary changes are not made in the process of trial for war crimes, there will be a decrease in the level of trust and security in regions with such crimes.

War crimes primarily constitute severe violations of civil law. Thus, they are criminally liable on the basis of international law since the military conflict affects several countries at once³. The problem is caused by the need to immediately search for a person or group of persons who committed crimes. The peculiarity of this kind of illegal action also lies in the fact that the country in which the crime was committed has the right to judge criminals according to its own laws⁴. Such trial can be taken regardless of the accused’s nationality and the country from which they came to the war zone.

The International Criminal Court is the main instance that investigates military cases. It is noted that this type of crime means “torture, mutilation, corporal punishment, hostage taking and acts of terrorism”⁵. In addition to the cases mentioned, such actions, which are cases of violations of human dignity, also fall into the legislative decision⁶. A prerequisite for classifying a crime as a military one is its commission in wartime.

In judicial practice, there are many cases of the commission of a war crime, which were considered at the international court. One of these was the trial, which considered such illegal actions as murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging⁷. This trial was called The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga. The criminal who committed these terrible acts against a multitude of human rights received twelve years in prison.

Therefore, this work drew attention to the importance of paying attention to war crimes and proceedings related to them in the international court and tribunal. As part of the work, a case of a real wartime crime called the Katanga Case was also investigated. It is worth emphasizing that this grave crime did not go unnoticed by the State and the International Court of Justice, which had its positive results. This has had an impact on spreading awareness about the problem and improving the quality of control of illegal actions in military conditions.

Bibliography

International Criminal Court ‘Katanga Case’, International Criminal Court [website], Web.

Government of Netherlands ‘The International Criminal Court (ICC)’ Government of Netherlands [website], [no date], Web.

Fatic, Aleksandar. Reconciliation Via the War Crimes Tribunal?. London: Routledge, 2019.

Hathaway, Oona A., Paul K. Strauch, Beatrice A. Walton, and Zoe AY Weinberg. ‘What is a war crime.’ Yale J. Int’l L. vol. 44, 2019, p. 53

Hayashi, N. and Bailliet, C.M. 2017. The Legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

King, K. and Meernik, J. ‘The burden of bearing witness: the impact of testifying at war crimes tribunals.’ Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 63, no. 2, 2019, pp.348-372.

Li, Mengyao, Bernhard Leidner, Nebojša Petrović, Seyed Nima Orazani, and Mostafa Salari Rad. ‘The role of retributive justice and the use of international criminal tribunals in post‐conflict reconciliation.’ European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 48, no. 2, 2018, pp. 133-151.

Werle, G. and Jessberger, F. 2020. Principles of International Criminal Law. London: Oxford University Press.

Footnotes

1. Fatic, Aleksandar. Reconciliation Via the War Crimes Tribunal?. London: Routledge, 2019, p. 2.
2. King, K. and Meernik, J., 2019. ‘The burden of bearing witness: the impact of testifying at war crimes tribunals.’ Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 63, no. 2, pp.348-372.
3. Werle, G. and Jessberger, F., 2020. Principles of International Criminal Law. London: Oxford University Press.
4. Hathaway, Oona A., Paul K. Strauch, Beatrice A. Walton, and Zoe AY Weinberg. ‘What is a war crime.’ The Yale Journal of International Law. vol.44, 2019,p. 53.
5. Government of Netherlands ‘The International Criminal Court (ICC)’ Government of Netherlands [website], [no date], para. 1, Web.
6. 6 Hathaway, Oona A., Paul K. Strauch, Beatrice A. Walton, and Zoe AY Weinberg. ‘What is a war crime.’ Yale J. Int’l L. vol. 44, 2019, p. 53.
7. International Criminal Court ‘Katanga Case’, International Criminal Court [website], Web.