The Human Law : The Crimes Of The African Criminal Court

State Crimes are defined as “acts that are largely committed, instigated or condoned by governments and their officials” (International State Crime initiative). These crimes are considered to be very serious crimes in society today, due to the fact that they are either committed or condoned by governmental personnel with the aim of achieving certain goals. Having said that, scholars today do not have the knowledge of how important these crimes are since it violate international and criminal law within that state. Eugene McLaughlin identified four categories of state crime; Political crimes, crimes by security, economic crimes and social and cultural crimes. However, I will focus on the two that are more widely acknowledged Political crime is corruption and censorship, a state has the right to label a behaviour as political crime if it’s seen as a threat to the state. Crime by security has to do with genocide and torture, a great example of crime by security is the Rwanda Genocide that occurred in 1994 which ended up killing 800,000 citizens in just a few weeks. According to Grabosky and Stohl (2010), state crimes can be divided into six main types; State terror against another state, state terror against private interests, State facilitation of another state’s terrorism, state terror against its own citizens, state facilitation of private actors and political terror scale. In this essay, I will be mainly concentrating on the Rwanda Genocide, Libyan civil war of 2011 and

Crimes against the international community are a collection of offences that are recognised by the international community as being of universal concern. However the prosecution of crimes against the international community can be controversial. Such crimes may be committed in the context of military conflict. They may be highly politically motivated, or they may have been ordered or committed by the state itself. The establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002 was a significant development in the law of crimes against the international community. The independent international court established by the Rome Statute, acts as a last resort for crimes fitting into the three categories of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Due to Australia’s Dualistic system, both the War crimes Act

A few United Nations representatives from Cuba, India, and Panama have wished to resolve the problem of genocide by recognizing it as an international crime, as stated in Document A. For example, inadequate provisions were placed when various Nazis were not punished for their wrongdoings. Nonetheless, this is seen as a negative aspect; however, it should be seen as motivation for others to strive to prevent further acts of genocide by punishing it as an international crime and create international laws. Since the late 1940s the United Nations has brought forth countless amounts of articles and documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Document E), which includes various articles that back up specific rights such as the right to life, liberty, and security of person, for these rights have since then helped prevent acts of genocide. It is through international laws where genocide will be ceased by making it an international crime, where it will assure international cooperation for its prevention and be dealt with its true deserving

In order to understand the magnitude of “crimes against humanity,” let’s first look into the ingredients of the whole recipe. At the most basic level, each human being has inalienable human rights. These rights are inherent, that by the virtue of being born and existing in the world as a human being you are entitled to them. These rights are universal, applicable at all times and in all places in the world. These inalienable human rights are egalitarian, meaning they are equal for every person. To reach a broad-spectrum agreement on the international scale, representatives from all over the world of different cultures and legal backgrounds came together in Paris on December 10th 1948 to draft The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR consists of 30 articles defining human rights, with article 1 beginning the series that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”1. These rights should be upheld and respected by all nations and peoples, not to be violated unless a direct implication with due process, and even then, should not violate unlawful imprisonment and/or execution. When the term “gross violations of human rights” is used, it is referring to the violation of any basic human right or the violation of human rights as a general term. These acts are isolated inhumane transgressions, most often referring to crimes committed by a single party against an individual.

In both history and present day, many human rights violations have occurred in countries residing within the UN. Despite the attempts that international influence created through the UN, many countries such as the Soviet Union conducted serious human rights violations through attempts to quell uprisings or anti-government movements. Even in the present day, countries such as North Korea and China have been committing drastic human rights violations, despite existing within the United Nations. Because of these facts, it can be concluded that international influence does not necessarily create better human

In the article, “The United States again Flunks a Test on Human Rights,” Robert F. Drinan discusses the modern world's lack of human rights and remaining community of racism. He speaks from the perspective of a human rights supporter who believes that everyone should be equal. He describes how, “The Human Rights Committee is one of six monitoring groups set up to supervise the implementation of the six major world treaties on human rights.” (Drinan 19). He discusses how, “These committees, unfortunately, have budgets that preclude wide dissemination of their findings and recommendations.” (Drinan 19). Drinan mentions small details including how, “There are 2,225 persons under age of 18 who received life imprisonment without parole,” (Drinan

When comparing apples to pears, one is not making a fair comparison, but a disproportionate comparison. Often times when international law is discussed or attempts are made to understand international law; many often attempt to compare international law with existing laws such as national law or domestic law. Making such disproportionate comparisons leads to many misconceived notions and attitudes toward international law. For an adequate comparison of international law to other laws, one should look closely at the available facts. This essay will demonstrate the vitality of international law, in a world of nations which continue to increase in interdependence.

The first International court is the ICC. The ICC has achieved some limited success with

The International Criminal Court (ICC), created in 1998 (Thayer and Ibryamova 2010), is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the most extreme cases, including crimes against humanity, aggressive crimes, war crimes, and genocide. The credibility of this institution, however, has been compromised due to the United States revocation of support and membership. Initially it is important to recognize the arguments against the United States becoming a member state of the ICC and what precipitated the U.S. withdrawing its signature from the document that instituted the Court. Once this has been established, addressing and refuting these objections will develop the arguments in favor of ICC membership. Finally, this analysis will lead to

Having human rights in place imposes certain obligations on the government and justifies the complaints of those whose rights and freedoms have not been respected. Everyone is entitled to human rights regardless of their nationality, gender, race, religion, or political opinion. The failure to recognize these rights results in conflict and a vicious cycle of violence as more human rights are violated. To avoid such clashes, human rights have become a fundamental part of global law and policy. However, they have not always been that way. Catastrophic events in history that claimed thousands of lives ran their vicious course before it was recognized that there had to be human rights established. The most famous example of genocide is the Holocaust, which killed around six million Jews. After the Holocaust, the United Nations recognized that there had to be human rights put into place. Two human rights from the United Nations’ “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” that were perversely violated during the Holocaust are Article 5 (the protection against inhumane treatment or punishment) and Article 25 (the right to a standard of living.) Light is shed upon the exploitation of human rights during the Holocaust in both Night by Elie Wiesel and The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal. The Holocaust was a devastating event that opened our eyes to just how cruel humans can be, and why human rights must be enforced and protected.

There is a close relationship between human rights and criminal law. The scope of my paper will surround human rights and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in addition to human rights and international crimes. International criminal justice in this context speaks to those interested in prosecuting against the background of international human rights and humanitarian norms. The use of criminal law has many positive effects and pursues many goals that are worth considering. For example, deterrence, accountability and punishment are important principles that will be discussed in the context of human rights. Is the International Criminal Court an effective method to promote and protect human rights internationally? If so, why and how?

The "intent to destroy" certain groups is unique to the characterisation of genocide. Closely related categories of international law "crimes touching humanity" aredescribed as adverse or calculated attacks against citizens.This timeline marks the growth of the term "genocide" and its systematization into international law.

Initially, this was seen following World War II with the Nuremberg trials in response to the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany. However in more contemporary history, the ICC was formed to in response to the events in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. These tribunals were unprecedented, not only in their global

     Over the past few years, the International Criminal Court (ICC or “the Court”) has been igniting controversy the world over. As more countries rallied behind it, more objections have been made, particularly from Americans, regarding what many view as fundamental flaws. I have chosen two papers to compare and contrast the different viewpoints taken by the authors when reflecting upon America’s involvement with the ICC. One calls for total rejection of the ICC, the other weighs the risks and benefits and calls for revision but acceptance.

The supporting and advocating on behalf of human rights has been one of the primary principles of the United Nations. Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations has worked to preserve the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms it believes to be deserved of by every man, woman, and child on the planet. Throughout the near seventy years of the United Nations’ existence, it has been challenged with an array of questions, events, and claims regarding the possible violation of human rights. In order to combat these claims, the body has established two organizations to deal with matters of human rights. The first being the Commission Human Rights, was the original organization, founded in 1946. The Commission existed