Vladimir Putin has a history of flattening cities in time of conflict. But alleged war crimes in Chechnya and Syria never resulted in charges, let alone prosecutions. Will Ukraine be any different?
There is no mechanism under international or Chinese law for the Uyghur claims to be heard without consent of the accused Chinese state.
philipus / Alamy Stock Photo
Governments declined to take part in the Uyghur Tribunal’s investigation. But the body of scholarly evidence for its claims, and its ruling, is thorough and extensive.
Campaigners against ecocide are calling for it to become an international crime.
Menetekel/Flickr
More than 600,000 Brazilians have died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. A new report says the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro are responsible for around half.
The value of the rule of law is to challenge and constrain power. In this sense, the legacy of Habré’s trial and conviction is mixed.
Consulting with the communities that have suffered the most harm from past acts of mass violence is a key part of a successful reparations process.
Steven Senne/AP
Kerry Whigham, Binghamton University, State University of New York
From Germany to Georgetown, the Global North has a lot to learn about reckoning successfully with past human rights wrongs.
Protesters chant “Stop the genocide in Tigray!” during a demonstration against Ethiopia’s war against Tigray regional forces on May 07, 2021 in Berlin, Germany.
Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Despite the International Criminal Court opening an investigation into potential war crimes dating back to 2014, legal accountability will likely remain elusive.
Victims of forced sterilizations protest in Lima, Peru, in 2014. Public hearings to uncover this dark chapter of the Fujimori dictatorship began in January.
Erneseto Benavides/AFP via Getty Images
Forced sterilization of Indigenous women was a covert part of ‘family planning’ under Fujimori. Over 200,000 Peruvians underwent tubal ligations between 1996 and 2001 – many without their consent.
Picture dated 12 June 1994 showing an Interahamwe Hutu militiaman holding a machete in Gitarama, center Rwanda.
Alexander Joe/AFP
Between 1992 and 1994, the former regime is said to have imported 581 tonnes of machetes into Rwanda. This figure appears to establish that the genocide was planned. But is this number accurate?
Jean-Pierre Bemba during his trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands.
EPA-EFE/Michael Kooren
The court’s decision has wider implications for international criminal law.
The date of arrest and a red cross marked on the face of Felicien Kabuga on a wanted poster at the Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit office in Kigali, Rwanda, on May 19, 2020.
(Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt/ AFP via Getty Images)
There are many hurdles to a successful prosecution of individuals accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But trying to seek justice is not a futile exercise.
Sudanese protestors celebrate a deal with the ruling generals on a new governing body, in the capital Khartoum, recently.
Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images)
The African Union’s staunch support for al-Bashir, cloaked in criticism of the International Criminal Court, denied justice to the millions affected by the conflict in Sudan.
Sudanese protesting against the conflict in Darfur.
Marwan Ali/EPA-EFE
Ousted president Omar al-Bashir could face the International Criminal Court for his role in Sudan’s clampdown on the non-Arab people of Darfur.
Former South African President FW De Klerk at the opening of parliament recently. The Economic Freedom Fighters objected to his presence.
EFE-EPA/Reuters Pool
Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, and Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York