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1948 History of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Development of the Laws of War

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1948 History of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Development of the Laws of War 1948 History of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Development of the Laws of War *Click on the chapter hyperlink (in blue capitals) to open the chapter in a separate pdf file CONTENTS Page FOREWARD CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER .. .. .. .. 1 CHAPTER II. OUTLINE OF THE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE LAWS OF WAR PRIOR TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR A. SURVEY OF THE LAWS OF WAR .. .. .. .. .. 24 B. THE BINDING FORCE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LAWS OF WAR 27 C. PUNISHMENT OF WAR CRIME.S. .. .. .. .. .. 29 CHAPTER III. DEVELOPMENTS OF THE LAWS OF WAR DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR PART I. THE 1919 COMMISSION ON RESPONSIBILITIES 32 A. COMPOSITION AND TERMS OF REFERENCE .. .. .. .. 32 B. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .. .. .. .. .. 33 (i) Violations of the Laws and Customs of War .. .. 33 (1) List of War Crimes ... .. .. 34 (2) War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity.. .. 35 (3) Views of the Majority and Dissenting Reservations .. 36 (ii) Personal Responsibility and Machinery for Retribution .. 38 (iii) Proposals for enforcement .. .. .. .. .. 40 PART II. THE PEACE TREATIES OF 1919-1923 AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION .. .. .. 41 A. THE PEACE TREATIES OF 1919-1923 .. .. .. 41 (i) Proposals of the Commission of Fifteen .. 41 (ii) Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.. .. 43 (iii) Other Peace Treaties .. .. .. .. 45 B. ATTEMPTS AT IMPLEMENTATION .. .. .. 46 (i) Action by the Allied and German Governments 46 (ii) The Leipzig Trials .. .. .. .. 48 (1) Naval cases submitted by the British Government 48 (2) Military cases submitted by the British Government 49 (3) Cases submitted by the French Government .. 50 (4) Cases submitted by the Belgian Government .. 51 C. CONCLUSIONS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 51 CHAPTER IV. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LAWS OF WAR BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS A. THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS .. .. .. 53 B. THE DRAFT TREATY OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AND THE UNRATIFIED GENEVA PROTOCOL 1924 .. .. .. .. .. .. 54 C. THE LOCARNO TREATIES .. .. .. .. .. .. 56 D. THE PACT OF PARIS 1928 .. .. .. .. .. .. 58 E. THE GENERAL ACT FOR THE PACIFIC SETTLEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES 1928 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 59 F. ATTEMPTS TO ASSIMILATE THE PROVISIONS OF THE PACT OF PARIS INTO THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE .. .. .. .. 60 CHAPTER IV-contd. Page G. THE MODEL TREATY TO STRENGTHEN THE MEANS OF PREVENTING WAR . .. 62 H. THE WAR BETWEEN BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY (THE CHACO WAR) 62 I. THE WAR BETWEEN COLOMBIA AND PERU (THE LETICIA INCIDENT) 66 J. THE ITALO-ABYSSINIAN WAR .. .. 67 K. THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF MANCHURIA AND THE SINO JAPANESE WAR .. 71 L. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION IN EUROPE 1937-1939 .. .. .. .. .. 75 M. PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCES, CONVENTIONS AND TREATIES 1923-1938 .. .. .. .. .. 77 (i) The Fifth Pan-American Conference at Santiago in 1923.. 77 (ii) The Sixth Conference at Habana in 1928 78 (iii) The Washington Conference on Conciliation and Arbitration, 1928 78 (iv) The Argentine Anti-war Treaty (Saavedra Lamas Treaty), 1933 79 (v) The Seventh Conference at Montevideo in 1933 79 (vi) The Buenos Aires Peace Conference, 1936 80 (vii) The Eighth Conference at Lima in 1938 81 N. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS ESTABLISHING RULES OF WARFARE 82 (i) Geneva Protocol for the prohibition of the use of poisonous and other gases and of bacteriological methods of warfare.. 82 (ii) International Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armies in the field 82 (iii) International Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war .. .. .. .. .. 83 (iv) Proces-verbal relating to the rules of submarine warfare set forth in Part IV of the Treaty of London of 22nd April, 1930 84 0. THE ACTIVITIES OF UNOFFICIAL BODIES 84 (i) The International Law Association 84 (ii) Other unofficial bodies .. 86 CHAPTER V. VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CONCEPT OF WAR CRIMES DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1943 A. DECLARATIONS OF STATESMEN AND GOVERNMENTS.. 87 (i) Declaration of the Polish and Czech Governments 87 (ii) Roosevelt-Churchill statements of 25th October, 1941 87 (iii) Molotov Notes on War Crimes .. 88 (iv) The Inter-allied Commission and the Declaration of St. James's of 13th January, 1942 .. .. .. 89 (v) Notes delivered to the Vatican and the Great Powers 92 (vi) Declarations of the Statesmen of the Great Powers 93 B. THE WORK OF UNOFFICIAL BODIES .. .. 94 (i) The work of the International Commission for Penal Reconstruction and Development .. .. 94 (1) Interim Report of 15th July, 1942 96 (2) Sub-Committee on War Crimes .. 96 (3) Sub-Committee on Superior Orders .. 98 (4) Sub-Committee on Extradition .. .. 98 (5) General Contributions of the Cambridge Commission 98 (ii) The Work of the London International Assembly 99 (1) Definition of War Crimes .. .. 100 (2) Superior Orders .. .. .. 101 (3) Responsibility of Statesmen, High Officials and Key Men.. 101 (4) The Judicial Court .. .. .. 102 (5) International Criminal Court .. 102 (6) Apprehension of War Criminals .. 103 (7) General Contributions of the London International Assembly 104 CHAPTER V-contd. Page C. ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES 1942-1943 104 D. OFFICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS .. .. .. 105 (i) Debate in the House of Lords, 7th October, 1942 and the simultaneous declaration of President Roosevelt 105 (ii) Statement made by Mr. Eden in the House of Commons on 17th December, 1942 .. .. .. 106 (iii) The United Kingdom Declaration of 30th August, 1943 106 (iv) The Moscow Declaration of 1st November, 1943 .. .. 107 CHAPTER VI. THE ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANISATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS WAR CRIMES COMMISSION A. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMISSION.. .. 109 (i) The Debate in the House of Lords, 7th October, 1942 109 (ii) The Intervening year 1942-1943 ; reasons for the delay 111 (iii) The Diplomatic Conference at the Foreign Office, 20th October, 1943 .. 112 (1) Panels .. .. 114 (2) Chairmanship and Procedure 115 (3) Secretariat .. 116 (4) Expenses 116 (5) Proposed " Technical Committee" 117 (iv) Premises of the Commission .. 118 B. ORGANISATION OF THE COMMISSION 118 (i) The Members .. .. 118 (ii) The Chairmanship .. 119 (iii) The Secretariat .. .. 119 C. STRUCTURE OF THE COMMISSION 120 (i) Procedure .. .. .. 120 (ii) Committee I .. .. 120 (1) The Function of Investigation 120 (2) Personnel of Committee I .. 123 (3) Secretariat .. .. .. 123 (iii) Committee II: the Function of Enforcement.. 124 (iv) Committee III: the Advisory Function 124 (1) Abandonment of the Technical Committee 124 (2) Creation of the Legal Committee; Personnel 126 D. THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE COMMISSION .. 127 E. THE FAR EASTERN AND PACIFIC SUB-COMMISSION 129 (i) Organisation of the Sub-Commission.. 129 (ii) Composition of the Sub-Commission.. 130 (iii) Functioning of the Sub-Commission 130 F. MISCELLANEOUS COMMITTEES .. .. .. 131 (i) The Far Eastern Committee of the Main Commission 131 (ii) Public Relations Committee 131 (iii) Finance Committee 131 (iv) Executive Committee 131 (v) Documents Committee 132 (vi) Legal Publications Committee 132 G. FINANCE.. .. .. 132 (i) Preliminary arrangements for finance 132 (ii) Appointment of Finance Committee 133 (iii) Contributions by member nations 133 (iv) Expenditures of the Commission 134 Page CHAPTER VII. GENERAL HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSION A. PERSONNEL OF THE COMMISSION AND THEIR MOVEMENTS.. .. 135 (i) Changes in Personnel of the Commission .. .. .. 135 (ii) The Secretariat .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 136 (iii) Movements of members of the Commission .. .. 137 B. OUTLINE OF THE COMMISSION'S ACTIVITIES .. .. .. 138 (i) Preparatory Phase-October, 1943, to January, 1945.. .. 139 (ii) The beginning of retributive action-February, 1945, to June, 1946 .. .. .. .. .. 141 (iii) Retributive action continued-July, 1946, to July, 1947 .. 145 (iv) The Concluding Phase-July, 1947, to March, 1948 .. 148 (v) Conclusion .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 150 C. WAR CRIMES IN THE FAR EAST .. .. .. .. .. 151 (i) The Far Eastern and Pacific Sub-Commission .. .. 151 (ii) Far Eastern charges submitted to the Main Commission .. 153 D. RELATIONS WITH MILITARY, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BODIES AND WAR CRIMES PROCEEDINGS .. .. .. .. 154 (i) Conference of National Offices.. .. .. .. .. 154 (ii) Relations with the U.S.S.R ... .. .. .. .. 158 (iii) Relations with the Military and Control Commission Authorities .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 159 (iv) Relations with the United Nations .. .. .. .. 160 (v) Relations with the International Military Tribunals and the Subsequent Proceedings Committee .. .. 162 (vi) Relations with the Press.. .. .. .. 163 (vii) Criminal Law Conferences in Brussels and Paris .. 164 E. THE RESEARCH OFFICE.. .. ... .. 165 (i) The Work of the Office .. .. .. 165 (ii) Disposal of Documents .. .. .. 167 CHAPTER VIII. ACTIVITIES ON QUESTIONS OF SUBSTANTIVE LAW INTRODUCTORY NOTES .. 169 A. THE CONCEPT OF WAR CRIMES .. 170 (i) List of War Crimes .. .. 170 (ii) War crimes against "enemy " and "allied" nationals 172 B. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY .. .. .. 174 (i) Extension of Commission's Competence 174 (ii) Specific Charges 177 (iii) Further definition 178 (iv) Other Charges .. 179 C. CRIMES AGAINST PEACE 180 (i) Aggressive war a crime 180 (1) Majority Report 181 (2) Minority Report 182 (3) Attitude of Member Governments 184 (ii) Recommendations to the United Nations 185 Page CHAPTER IX. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CONCEPTS OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST PEACE .. .. ... .. .. A. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY .. .. .. 188 (i) Developments preceding the Charter of 1945 188 (1) Introductory .. .. .. .. 188 (2) The Italo-Abyssinian War of 1935-1936 189 (3) The Spanish Conflict
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