International Prosecution of Human Rights Crimes

The demand for accountability for human rights violations is heard throughout the world as never before.

This volume explores current developments in the prosecution of human rights crimes on the national and international level.

Experts from several countries discuss relevant topics from the academic debate, describe the practice in different countries, and analyze problems which have arisen in this new and exciting field of law.

They strike a balance after the first years of the International Criminal Court and a growing universal jurisdiction practice and give the reader a present-day overview of attempts to bring to justice major figures like Augusto Pinochet and Donald Rumsfeld as well as lesser known ones.

Emphasis is put on the emerging principle of universal jurisdiction and the effect of the "war on terror" on legal norms.

While the latter threatens to weaken and, in some respect, destroy long standing principles of international law, the developing practice of universal jurisdiction offers new resources for dealing with international crimes.The book examines the tension between these two phenomena and its meaning for international criminal law and the implementation of human rights.

The contributors include Kai Ambos, Jorg Arnold, Christopher Keith Hall, Scott Horton, Florian Jessberger, Lorna McGregor, Michael Ratner, Nigel S.

Rodley and Naomi Roht-Arriaza.