Overview

This book explores the promises and limitations of holding individuals accountable for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. It analyses the principal crimes under international law, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and appraises both prosecutorial and other key mechanisms developed to bring individuals to justice. After applying their conclusions in a detailed case study, the authors offer a series of compelling conclusions on the prospects for accountability. This fully updated new edition contains expanded coverage of national trials under universal jurisdiction, international criminal tribunals including the International Criminal Court, new hybrid tribunals in Cambodia and elsewhere, truth commissions, and lustration. It also explores individual accountability for terrorist acts and for abuses committed in the name of counter-terrorism policy.

Full Product Details

Author:   Steven R. Ratner (Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School) ,  Jason S. Abrams (Consultant to the United Nations) ,  James L. Bischoff (Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Edition:   3rd Revised edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 23.30cm
Weight:   0.798kg
ISBN:  

9780199546671

ISBN 10:   0199546673
Pages:   536
Publication Date:   29 January 2009
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

PART I: SUBSTANTIVE LAW 1: Individual Accountability for Human Rights Abuses: Historical and Legal Underpinnings 2: Genocide and the Imperfections of Codification 3: Crimes Against Humanity and the Inexactitude of Custom 4: War Crimes and the Limitations of Accountability for Acts in Armed Conflict 5: Other Abuses Incurring Individual Responsibility under International Law 6: Expanding and Contracting Culpability: Complicity, Defenses, and Other Barriers to Criminality PART II: MECHANISMS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY 7: Mechanisms for Accountability: Framing the Issues 8: The Forum of First Resort: National Tribunals 9: The Progeny of Nuremberg: International Criminal Tribunals 10: Non-Prosecural Options: Investigatory Commissions, Civil Suits, Immigration Measures, and Lustration 11: Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance 12: Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance PART III: A CASE STUDY: THE ATTROCITIES OF THE KHMER ROUGE 12: The Khmer Rouge Rule over Cambodia: A Historical Overview 13: Applying the Law 14: Engaging the Mechanism PART IV: CONCLUSIONS 15: Striving for Justice: The Prospects for Individual Accountability Appendices

Reviews

Acclaim for the Previous Edition: <br> Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law. <br> --Richard J. Goldstone<br> A timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject... An outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly. This excellent book provides a thoroughly researched and 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. <br> --The American Journal of International Law<br>

...a timely and welcome addition to international legal literature...What for me is remarkable is that a work of such academic pedigree and intellectual excellence should be such an eminently readable review of all aspects of individual criminal responsibility and international criminal law past, present and potential * Lord Bonomy, Senator of the College of Justice, Edinburgh, Scotland * a timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject ... an outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly ... 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 practial 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. * Payam Akhavan, The American Journal of International Law (Vol 93) * Review from previous edition Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law. * Richard J. Goldstone *

`Review from previous edition Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law.' Richard J. Goldstone `a timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject ... an outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly ... 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 practial 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.' Payam Akhavan, The American Journal of International Law (Vol 93) `...a timely and welcome addition to international legal literature...What for me is remarkable is that a work of such academic pedigree and intellectual excellence should be such an eminently readable review of all aspects of individual criminal responsibility and international criminal law past, present and potential' Lord Bonomy, Senator of the College of Justice, Edinburgh, Scotland

<br>Acclaim for the Previous Edition: <br> Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law. <br>--Richard J. Goldstone<br> A timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject... An outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly. This excellent book provides a thoroughly researched and within which these and other complex issues may be examined. It combin

Author Information

Steven R. Ratner is Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School Jason S. Abrams is an international lawyer based in New York James Bischoff works in the offices of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Juan Torruella

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