War Crimes Trials
Introduction to War Crimes Trials
War Crimes Trials, trials of persons charged with criminal violation of the laws and customs of war and related principles of international law.
The first war crimes trials in modern times were held after World War II (1939-1945) by the victorious Allied nations to prosecute German and Japanese war criminals. In 1993 and 1994 the United Nations (UN) established war crimes tribunals to prosecute those who committed crimes during the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. In 2002 the UN and the government of Sierra Leone established a jointly administered war crimes tribunal to prosecute atrocities committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war. A similar court has been proposed to prosecute war crimes committed in Cambodia during the 1970s.
In July 1998 UN delegates approved a statute creating a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) to try people accused of genocide (systematic extermination of a group), war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression. The ICC was designed to replace ad hoc tribunals of limited jurisdiction, such as those created to address the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. The ICC, with headquarters in The Hague, The Netherlands, officially came into being on July 1, 2002.
This article discusses war crimes tribunals with jurisdiction limited to specific conflicts. For information on the permanent International Criminal Court, see International Criminal Court.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about War Crimes Trials in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
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