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Prosecuting Perpetrators of Genocide: Influencing the Development of International Human Rights Law

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Prosecuting Perpetrators of Genocide: Influencing the Development of International Human Rights Law Prosecuting Perpetrators of Genocide: Influencing the Development of International Human Rights Law Claire Crites University of Oxford, England 1 I. Introduction Immanuel Kant stated in Eternal Peace “injustice in one part of the world is felt in all 1 ​ parts.” While this declaration may not ring true for every injustice, it seems to apply when examining atrocities such as genocide. Attempting to deliver justice after genocide has been and continues to be a complex process of international and national law combined with diplomatic and political tensions. The Nuremberg trials after World War II were a pivotal moment in international legal history that redefined how crimes of genocide should and could be prosecuted. These trials set a precedent for involving the international community in the future prosecutions of perpetrators of genocide. The actions at Nuremberg directly affected the prosecutions of both the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. However, it must be noted that the prosecutions of the Nazi, Cambodian, and Rwandan genocides are not the only legal action taken against genocide perpetrators that have influenced international law. Nevertheless, this does not minimize their importance as each response by the international community to these genocides developed international law both directly and indirectly. In this piece, I aim to examine how justice was sought in the criminal prosecutions of Nazi, Cambodia, and Rwandan genocide perpetrators, and the impact of those prosecutions on international human rights law development. II. Nazi Genocide Prosecutions The prosecution of Nazi leaders after the end of the Holocaust created imperative changes in international law that would serve as precedent for the international community’s actions against genocide atrocities in the future. Adolf Hitler’s short reign brought about the greatest genocide in history. The Holocaust resulted in the death of over six million persons of 2 Jewish descent and seventeen million deaths in total. The legal prosecution to bring the leaders of this genocide to justice began at the end of World War II in the Nuremberg trials. The Nuremberg trials were the starting point in the punishment of genocide perpetrators because the legal developments of the post war period served as the crucible for subsequent developments in 3 international human rights legalism. The atrocity crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany prompted the international community to take unprecedented action in bringing the perpetrators to justice. The Allied powers of the United Kingdom, United States, and the Soviet Union jointly declared to the United Nations in 1943 that most assuredly they “will pursue the members of the Nazi 4 Party to the uttermost ends of the earth…so that justice may be done.” This process began with the London Agreement, which resulted in the International Military Tribunal (IMT) Charter. The Charter of the IMT signed by the Allied powers in 1945 established the procedural and substantive rules to the court to try war criminals of the Nazi Party whose offenses had no 5 particular location. The IMT’s establishment was a monumental achievement in international 1 Hannibal Travis, Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations: Exploring the Causes of Mass Killing Since ​ 1945 (New York: Routledge, 2013), 161. ​ 2 “Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, accessed ​ ​ April 9, 2018. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article. ​ ​ 3 Donald Bloxham and A. Dirk Moses, The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies (Oxford: Oxford University ​ ​ Press, 2010), 617. 4 Herbert R. Reginbogin, et al, The Nuremberg Trials: International Criminal Law Since 1945 (München: K.G. ​ ​ Saur, 2006), 106. 5 Robert K. Woetzel, The Nuremberg Trials in International Law (London: Stevens & sons, 1960), 3. ​ ​ ​ 2 legal history as the first instance of the international community uniting to prosecute war criminals. Under the IMT Charter, defendants could be charged with the crime of conspiracy to wage wars of aggression, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity under 6 temporal jurisdiction for the years 1939 to 1945. The legal definition and codification of these crimes at the international level further developed international human rights law. Outside of the IMT, another influential prosecutorial agent against the Nazi Party included the twelve trials 7 conducted by the American military tribunals at Nuremberg. The trials conducted by the IMT along with the American military tribunals established the primary precedent for national courts and future prosecutorial cases of genocide perpetrators. A. Results of the Nuremberg Trials The IMT began on November 20th, 1945 and ended on October 1st, 1946. The twelve 8 trials conducted by the American military tribunals lasted until 1949. The IMT held 403 open sessions in which they tried twenty-one defendants whose roles in the Nazi regime ranged from 9 the Gestapo to the Schutzstaffel (SS) to the Reich Cabinet. One of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party prosecuted at Nuremberg was Hermann Goering, who served as Hitler’s successor after his suicide. Goering was indicted on conspiracy to wage wars of aggression, crimes against 10 peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to death by hanging. The judgments at the IMT resulted in seven defendants receiving prison sentences and three 11 defendants being acquitted, while all others were sentenced to death. The judgments of the IMT would serve as precedent for national courts in Nazi criminal cases, particularly the American military tribunals. The American military tribunals went on to prosecute 183 high ranking 12 German officials in twelve separate trials. The prosecutions initiated by the IMT and the American military tribunals brought swift and decisive justice to some of the most eminent leaders of the Nazi regime. B. The Effect of the Nuremberg Trials on International Law Apart from its status as the first international tribunal, the Nuremberg trials influenced international law in other significant ways. The Nuremberg trials extended international law beyond its traditional jurisdiction seen through the Nuremberg principles. The International Law Commission (ILC) of the United Nations was established to develop and codify international 13 law, and was tasked by the United Nations to formulate the Nuremberg principles. The 6 International Military Tribunal, The Trial of German Major War Criminals: Proceedings of the International ​ Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (London: Published under the authority of H.M. Attorney General by H.M.S.O, ​ 1946-1951), 171. 7 Herbert R. Reginbogin, et al, The Nuremberg Trials: International Criminal Law Since 1945 (München: K.G. ​ ​ Saur, 2006), 106. 8 Ibid. 106 9 Robert K. Woetzel, The Nuremberg Trials in International Law (London: Stevens & sons, 1960), 1. ​ ​ 10 Ibid. 7. 11 William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (New York: Simon and ​ ​ Schuster, 1960), 1143. 12 “International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, accessed April 9, 2018. ​ ​ https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article. ​ 13 Robert K. Woetzel, The Nuremberg Trials in International Law (London: Stevens & sons, 1960), 232. ​ ​ 3 codification of the Nuremberg principles served to establish the actions taken in the Nuremberg trials as international law for future cases of genocide. The ILC included seven tenets that summarized the principles of the IMT. One of the primary Nuremberg principles states that an 14 individual can be charged with crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Not only were the Nuremberg principles imperative in international law for their establishment of the IMT as precedent in future cases of genocide, but they also affirmed international law’s ability to hold individuals responsible for these crimes, contrasting previous notions that only state law could be successful. International law establishing individual responsibility for 15 violations of human rights was one of the most imperative legacies of the Nuremberg trials. The results of the trials created major changes in international legal structure -- as international law was now not exclusively concerned with relations between states, but also relations between 16 an individual and states. Individual accountability developed through international law as a new precedent for future cases against perpetrators of human rights violations due to the Nuremberg trials. The 1948 Genocide Convention met in the context of the Nuremburg trials to formulate preventative measures and legal punishment for genocide perpetrators. Genocide was first recognized as an independent crime in the 1948 Genocide Convention as acts committed with 17 “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” This definition of genocide would serve as the legal definition for every future international law case against perpetrators of genocide, and it was a landmark legal codification making genocide illegal under international law. Another impact of the Nuremberg trials on international law was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, and the declaration regarded as part of an expression of the 18 United Nations to safeguard human rights. The Nuremberg trials provided a primordial message as to the definition of human rights itself; Nuremberg intended to define
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