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The Nuremberg Judgment on the leaders of Nazi Germany proclaimed ‘crimes against peace’ – the planning and waging of aggressive wars – to be ‘the supreme international crime’.  This charge was premised on two innovative ideas: that aggressive war was a crime, and that individuals could be held responsible for it. Although heralded as an historic milestone at the time, it turned out to be a transient legal anomaly.  At the Nuremberg Tribunal, the number of acquittals, coupled with the relative leniency of the sentences, indicated the judges’ unease about convicting on the basis of ‘crimes against peace’.  At the Tokyo Tribunal, some judges questioned the validity of the charge and filed dissents.  Legal observers, meanwhile, were outspoken in their criticisms, and argued that it was an ex post facto enactment, selectively applied. Aside from retroactivity and selectivity, the main difficulty arose from the internal contradictions within the charge itself, which rendered it unsustainable as a component of international law.  On jurisdiction, it enhanced the sovereignty of nations by protecting them against aggression, while simultaneously undermining sovereignty by subjecting leaders to international law.  On enforcement, while judicialising punishment after the event, it simultaneously de-legitimised both aggression and attempts to prevent it.  These weaknesses were confirmed by the failure of ‘crimes against peace’ to become part of customary international law. If the Rome Statute is amended to include ‘crime of aggression’ within the International Criminal Court’s operative remit, these latter problems are likely to occur.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The climate of the Great Lakes Region fostered desperate sources of insecurity which fed each other in a conflict-system which was also largely fuelled by the surrounding war economy. Consequently, the focus of this study was narrowed to providing only a descriptive analysis of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s peace processes of 1998-2002. Subsequently, the surrounding climate served to aggravate the DRC’s ethnic cleavages and the conflict grew so complex that the issues could no longer be clearly divided. The motivation for conducting a study of this nature was that amidst the twenty-three failed attempts for peace, the conflict persisted with no signs of abating, which suggests that a historical and discourse analysis of the peace processes is justified. This study found that during these peace processes, far greater prominence was given to Track I diplomacy than to the unofficial Track II diplomacy. This was due to various limitations that existed. This distinction is fundamental because even though unofficial diplomacy has a different function to official diplomacy, their values are equal and more effective in a peace process when there is a collaborative effort between the two. This is called a Multi-Track approach (Diamond and McDonald, 1996). Thus this study proposes that by giving Track II diplomacy a greater prominence in a peace process, the Multi-Track approach would be fully utilized. It suggests that governmental, informal, and unofficial contact in civil society is fundamental in trust-building between parties in negotiation. Overall, there is value in providing a critical descriptive analysis of both Track I and Track II diplomatic initiatives that were undertaken during the 1998-2002 peace process, in order to expose the shortcomings. In doing so, this study presents the Multi-Track approach in order to emphasize its potential efficacy in addressing similar future cases of intractable conflict. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die omstandighede in die Groot Merestreek het onsekerheid gekweek, wat mekaar versterk het in die konteks van ’n konflik-sisteem wat ook deur die omliggende oorlog-ekonomie aangevuur was. Gevolglik is hierdie studie se fokus beperk tot ‘n beskrywende analise van die vredesprosesse wat tydens 1998-2002 op die tweede rebellie in die Demokratiese Republiek van die Kongo gevolg het. Die omstandighede in die omliggende omgewing het die DRK se etniese splitsings vererger, en die konflik het so kompleks geword dat daar nie meer duidelik tussen die verskillende geskilpunte onderskei kon word nie. Die motivering vir hierdie studie is dat daar te midde van die drie-en-twintig mislukte vredespogings geen teken was dat die konflik aan die afneem was nie, wat suggereer dat ’n historiese diskoers analise van die vredesproses geregverdig is. Hierdie studie het gevind dat daar gedurende hierdie vredesprosesse ’n veel meer prominente rol aan die amptelike Track I-diplomasie as aan die nie-amptelike Track II-diplomasie toegeken was, as gevolg van verskeie beperkinge wat bestaan het. Hierdie onderskeid is van kardinale belang; ten spyte van die feit dat nie-amptelike diplomasie ’n ander funksie as amptelike diplomasie vervul, dra dit ewe veel waarde en behoort vredesprosesse waar daar samewerking tussen die twee inisiatiewe plaasvind dus meer effektief te wees. Hierdie redenasie word ’n Multi-Track benadering genoem. Hierdie studie stel voor dat die Multi- Track benadering meer effektief geïmplementeer kan word deurdat daar aan Track IIdiplomasie ’n meer prominente rol in die vredesproses toegeken word; dit stel dus ook voor dat regeringskontak, informele en nie-amptelike kontak tussen gewone burgers van kardinale belang in die bou van vetroue tussen bemiddelingspartye is. Daar lê dus waarde daarin om ’n krities-beskrywende analise van beide Track I- en Track II inisiatiewe wat tydens die 1998-2002 vredesprosesse onderneem is weer te gee, ten einde die tekortkominge daarvan uit te wys. Op hierdie manier hou hierdie studie die Multi-Track benadering voor om uiteindelik die potensiële bruikbaarheid van hierdie benadering in soortgelyke toekomstige gevalle van konflik te beklemtoon.

Face aux atrocités perpétrées par les armées allemandes et japonaises, les Alliés en viennent à la même conclusion durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale : la meilleure réponse à la barbarie se situe dans une justice exemplaire. Châtier les plus hauts dignitaires nazis et japonais est jugé de la plus haute importance. Ces idéaux élevés de justice se trouvent pourtant être vite compromis avec les réalités d’après-guerre. Invitée par les États-Unis à juger les grands criminels de guerre japonais, la France accepte de participer au Tribunal militaire international pour l’Extrême-Orient. De mai 1946 à décembre 1948, vingt-huit prévenus comparaissent devant un collège de juges de onze nationalités différentes pour répondre de leurs responsabilités dans la guerre du Pacifique. La présence de la France à ce procès est motivée par des enjeux politiques : le nouveau gouvernement français espère reconquérir l’Indochine ; ce procès international lui offre une scène inattendue pour affirmer son prestige en Extrême-Orient. Mais les délégués français vont se comporter de manière imprévisible à Tokyo. À partir de sources inédites, cette thèse se propose de suivre leur engagement en faveur d’une justice internationale. Elle apporte ainsi une nouvelle perspective sur le procès de Tokyo et sur l’histoire de la justice transitionnelle / Alarmed by the magnitude of the atrocities perpetrated in Europe and in Asia, the Allies demonstrated their resolve to punish those responsible for such acts in 1945. From 1945 to 1948, prominent members of Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire were prosecuted at the Nuremberg and the Tokyo International Military Trials. In Japan, the United States invited France to participate in the Tokyo trial. This trial offered her an unexpected opportunity to build prestige in the Far East; during World War II, France had lost her richest colony, Indochina, and hoped to regain it. France wanted to prove that she was a nation of rights in Asia where decolonization was gaining ground. But it is hardly surprising that her delegates did not protect the national interest. On the contrary, they just wished to improve the fairness of the Tokyo trial. Based on unpublished sources, this thesis aims to understand their commitment to international justice. It sheds new light on the Tokyo trial and on the history of transitional justice

Les crimes contre l’humanité, les crimes contre la paix, les crimes de guerre, le génocide constituant le noyau dur des crimes internationaux représentent les actes qui causent les dommages les plus graves à la sécurité humaine et internationale. Ils sont codifiés dans les statuts des tribunaux pénaux internationaux. Les crimes transnationaux ou les crimes de traités ne sont pas codifiés dans ces statuts ou sont codifiés d’une manière assez limitée. L’apartheid, la torture, l’esclavage, la piraterie maritime, le terrorisme sont les exemples de ces crimes. Selon les règles de transformation du système international de Morton Kaplan, une variable du système international cause des transformations ou joue un rôle dans l’essor des systèmes internationaux. Le noyau dur des crimes internationaux est abordé dans notre travail comme l’une de ces variables du système. Dans ce but, le système bipolaire (1945- 1991), le nouvel ordre mondial (1991-2001) et le nouveau système depuis les attentats de 11 septembre 2001 ont été analysés. Les Tribunaux Internationaux de Nuremberg, de Tokyo, pour l’Ex-Yougoslavie, pour le Rwanda et la CPI sont devenus les études de cas. / Crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, war crimes and genocide constitute the hard core of most threatful acts to human and international security. They have been codified through the statutes of international criminal tribunals. Transnational crimes or treaty crimes are not codified in these statutes or they are narrowly codified. Examples of such crimes include the apartheid, torture, slavery, maritime piracy, and terrorism. According to the rules of international system transformation as defined by Morton Kaplan, one variable of the international system entails transformations and plays a role in the emergence of international systems. In this study, the hard core of international crimes is considered as one of the variables of the system. Thus, the bipolar system (1945-1991), the new world order (1991- 2001) and the new system after September 11 attacks are analysed. International Tribunals such as Nuremberg, Tokyo, for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and the International Penal Court constitute case studies.

in English Dissertation Thesis David Kohout: Legal-Historical Aspects of Punishment of Nazi Criminals on the Background of the Adolf Eichmann Trial This Dissertation on the topic of "Legal-Historical Aspects of Punishment of Nazi Criminals on the Background of the Adolf Eichmann Trial" seeks to analyze the main approaches to the prosecution and punishment of the Nazi crimes. It was chosen to use the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in years 1961 - 1962 as a connecting thread of this whole work. It was so not only due to the individual remarkableness of the trial but also due to the fact that it was in many ways a very illustrative for the previous legal development until that time. Additionally, many commentators of this trial attribute it a great impact on the renewal of the interest in the prosecution of former Nazis who were implicated in perpetration of crimes committed until 1945 and who remained at large after the end of war. Therefore this Thesis goes beyond the Eichmann trial and focuses on its broader context in material but also personal sense (in the text it often referred to cases of prosecution of close collaborators of Adolf Eichmann). In the opening chapters this Dissertation, however, starts with events that go far back in time before the Adolf Eichmann trial. This is for the...

International crimes prosecutions have become more common since 1993, both domestically and at international courts and tribunals. The advance of this norm confronts realist state interests causing debate about the norm's status. Kathryn Sikkink views a norm as cascading when enough states adopt it to cause international influence, without domestic pressure, to procure levels of conformity. This thesis considers the degree of conformity by observing the level of case selection independence to determine whether this norm is cascading. By identifying the jurisdictional and functional elements of case selection independence, I develop a framework for observing the interface between politics and law. While Sikkink errs towards the quantity of international crimes prosecutions, I focus on the quality. This project examines case selection independence at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court, in Uganda. The project considers whether case selection has become more or less independent at these courts - whether the norm of international crimes prosecution has cascaded or contracted. In observing the various case selection independence elements I attempt to explain the observed cascades and contractions at each court. I then consider whether a cascade or contraction occurred during the period of the courts' collective design and function. The research qualitatively observes a cumulative justice contraction. The research observes a combination of factors affecting case selection independence, including shifts in power dynamics between and among weak and powerful states, increasing state sophistication in international court engagement, a shift in jurisdiction triggering actors and forums, and realist state co-option of norm entrepreneurs via endearing explanation of independence-diminishing policies.