Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law: Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy » (3rd Edition)

About the Authors

Steven R. Ratner is Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law.

Jason S. Abrams is a Legal Officer with the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations.

Fifty years after the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, nations worldwide still struggle with the necessity of holding individuals accountable for human rights violations. This book offers an unprecedented progress report on this crucial enterprise. After examining the scope of international crime, the mechanisms created by states for enforcing laws, and the practical difficulties of applying such laws, the authors conclude their comprehensive study with an important assessment of the future of accountability.

About the Authors:
Steven R. Ratner is Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law.

Jason S. Abrams is a Legal Officer with the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations.

American Journal of International Law

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.

Pt. I Substantive Law

1 Individual Accountability for Human Rights Abuses: Historical and Legal Underpinnings 3

2 Genocide and the Imperfections of Codification 27

3 Crimes Against Humanity and the Inexactitude of Custom 48

4 War Crimes and the Limitations of Accountability for Acts in Armed Conflict 82

5 Other Abuses Incurring Individual Responsibility Under International Law 114

6 Expanding and Contracting Culpability: Complicity, Defenses, and Other Barriers to Criminality 141

Pt. II Mechanisms for Accountability

7 Mechanisms for Accountability: Framing the Issues 167

8 The Forum of First Resort: National Tribunals 177

9 The Progeny of Nuremberg: International Criminal Tribunals 209

10 Non-Prosecutorial Options: Investigatory Commissions, Civil Suits, Immigration Measures, and Lustration 259

11 Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance 288

Pt. III A Case Study: The Atrocities of the Khmer Rouge

12 The Khmer Rouge Rule over Cambodia: A Historical Overview 305

13 Applying the Law 319

14 Engaging the Mechanisms 341

Pt. IV Conclusions

15 Striving for Justice: The Prospects for Individual Accountability 365

Appendices

Bibliography 429

Index 473