You Be The Judge: Should We Judge Others By Our Own Standards?

The tribunals that were established by the victors of World War II were designed to try and punish military and civilian leaders for waging war, for war crimes, and for crimes against humanity. Twelve of the Germans convicted at the Nuremberg trials and seven of the Japanese convicted at the Tokyo trials were sentenced to death for their crimes.

The war crimes tribunals established a precedent by holding individuals accountable for their actions during times of armed conflict. Specifically, individuals could not avoid punishment by claiming that they behaved according to orders or on behalf of the state. Individual leaders were also accountable for subordinates' illegal acts and crimes against humanity. In addition, military commanders were held responsible for the illegal acts committed by their soldiers, even in cases when the commander did not issue the orders for these acts.

The recent war in Bosnia and the massacre in Rwanda outraged the international community with the planned political terror and the extent of atrocities committed. The physical evidence and eyewitness accounts from Bosnia and Rwanda revealed war crimes and crimes against humanity that also qualified under international law as acts that could be prosecuted by an international tribunal. As a result, the international community established tribunals in The Hague and Nairobi to indict the suspected war criminals. Although difficulties in apprehending suspects has impeded the pursuit of justice in these cases, the international community's attempt to establish tribunals is significant in its broad-based efforts to hold individuals accountable under international law.

The recent tribunals are perhaps even more significant normatively than the ones after World War II because they were not established by the victors in war. They are the first genuine international tribunals maintaining widespread support throughout the international community. Moreover, these tribunals have revitalized the debate on establishing a permanent international court, though the issue remains one of controversy. If an international court is established, states would necessarily be relinquishing some degree of their sovereignty, even if the tribunals continued to be created on an ad hoc basis and compliance of states in apprehending and extraditing individuals continued to be problematic.

Below are a number of questions that will help you assess your own attitudes about the internationalization of war crimes prosecution. Your answers will be combined with others from your class and from other the Web site users as a way of evaluating where you stand on this issue relatively to some of your peers.

1		Are war crimes tribunals morally just?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	It depends on the issue
2		If you had lived during Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany and you could have foreseen the atrocities committed, would you have advocated the assassination of Hitler?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
3		Is the assassination of a leader who promotes or condones crimes against humanity morally just?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
4		Is it morally just for the international community to use the death penalty as punishment for crimes against humanity?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
5		Should international peacekeeping forces be used in apprehending suspects of war crimes?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
6		Should the international community place sanctions on a state that does not extradite suspects of war crimes?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
7		The first accused war criminal to appear before The Hague War Crimes Tribunal pleaded guilty to executing 70 Muslim prisoners in Bosnia. Do you think that his sentence of 10 years without parole is a fair punishment, given the number of people he executed and his claims that he was acting according to orders?
			A)	Fair punishment
			B)	Should serve more time
			C)	Should serve less time
8		Months prior to the massacre in Rwanda, Radio Mille Collines began broadcasting exhortations for the Hutus to attack the Tutsis. Do you think the radio broadcasters or owners of the radio station should be punished for promoting crimes against humanity?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
9		Should radio broadcasters and owners of the media be punished for promoting crimes against humanity if they are also carrying out state propaganda?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
10		Do war crimes tribunals violate state sovereignty?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
11		Should we worry about violating state sovereignty if the cause is morally just?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know
12		Should war crimes tribunals be employed in cases of civil war or only when genocide or international wars occur?
			A)	Only when genocide and international wars occur
			B)	Any time that crimes against humanity are committed, including civil war
			C)	Don't know
13		Do you believe that the international war crimes tribunals represent Western standards or more universal standards of human rights?
			A)	Western standards
			B)	Universal human rights
			C)	Don't know
14		Do you think a permanent international court should be established?
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
			C)	Don't know