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The Penal Responsibility And Sanctions For Violations Of International Humanitarian Law
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Chapter
Three reveals what grave breaches entails under IHL, sanctions for
violation of IHL under the Rome statute and other laws. It further
undertakes an exposition of the penal sanctions for breaches of
international humanitarian law. Nature and scope of the sanctions
imposed will be analyzed. Further, imposition of penalties for grave
breaches by state is examined/trials of violators, extradition where
necessary and reparation for states will conclude this chapter.
Chapter
four generally treats the enforcement machinery of the sanctions of
International Humanitarian Law with regards to case laws. The
establishments of national and international criminal jurisdictions to
punish grave breaches, the competence and competent courts, procedural
guarantees under IHL will be analyzed. Further, competence/jurisdiction
of International Criminal Tribunals, International Criminal Tribunal for
former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will
be examined. While the Permanent International Criminal Court will
conclude this chapter.
Chapter five, the final part of this research
work will bring the discourse to its conclusion by making
recommendations and finally the International Committee of the Red Cross
role in developing, monitoring and implementation of international
humanitarian law will conclude this research work.
1.7 Scope of Study
Taking
into cognizance the fact that international humanitarian law does not
claim that it can put an end to the scourge of war, but aims at
ameliorating the unnecessary harshness of armed conflicts, and that the
reciprocal interest of the belligerents should compel them to observe
certain “rules of the game†in the conduct of hostilities.
It is
therefore necessary to determine from the onset the objective of the
research. The main thrust of the research is to undertake a discourse of
the origin, nature and the scope of international humanitarian law
albeit in brief with a view to determining whether the High Contracting
Parties to the four Geneva Conventions and the two additional Protocols
are keeping faith with their obligation, to enact any legislation
necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing,
or ordering to be committed, or to have ordered to have committed, such
grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their
nationality before its own courts.
Another important aim of the
research, is to identify crimes breaches under international
humanitarian law. The emotional and psychological trauma of displaced
persons and refugees, the torture, cruel and inhuman treatment meted out
to prisoners of war and other grave breaches of international
humanitarian law necessitate that effective penal sanctions should be
meted to those persons committing or ordering to be committed such grave
breaches of international humanitarian law.
It is absolutely
imperative to consider the enforcement machinery put in place both
nationally and internationally under IHL to arraign, prosecute and
punish those who violate the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and
the Protocols.
Finally to determine the efficacy or otherwise of the
sanctions and the enforcement machinery in bringing compliance with the
rules of the game during armed conflicts.
1.8 Limitation of the Study
The
implementation of IHL is a very broad field and includes taking
measures other than the national implementation. This study will focus
only on the national implementation of IHL. Furthermore, the national
implementation of IHL itself is a vast field that would require
extensive research and analysis that could not be undertaken due to the
length limitations of this study. For this reason, this study will focus
on an analysis of the obligations imposed on nation states and
liabilities the states could incur for violations of IHL. This study
shall also be limited in that it is not intended to constitute an
in-depth analysis of all obligations placed on States by IHL, but rather
to highlight the more important obligations. In this respect only
select international instruments will be analyzed. The Geneva
conventions and Protocols that deal specifically with the protection of
the lives and dignity of participants in and victims of armed conflicts
will be analyzed. Excluded from this study are all weapons conventions
and those conventions dealing with the protection of property and the
environment during an armed conflict. This study will examine the former
Rwanda and Yugoslavia as a case study of the failure to effectively
implement conventional IHL obligations into national laws.
Quincy Wright, Quoted in International committee of Red Cross, ICRC “Answers to your Question†Published by ICRC, P 9.
The Code of Hammurabi, 1754 BC.
Lieber,
Francis (Professor at Columbia College New York) at the request of
Abraham Lincoln, drew up a series of instructions for union soldiers
during the American Civil War.
Dunant Henry â€A memory of Solferinoâ€, (November 1862) P.7
ICRC International Humanitarian Law “Answers to your Question†ICRC p.4
Geneva Convention, 1864.
M
T Ladan,†Introduction to International Human Right and humanitarian
Law†(Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University press, 1999) p. 109
F. Bory, Origin and Development of International Humanitarian Law, (ICRC Geneva 1982) P. 11
ICRC; “Answers to your Question†P.13
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