Radio Nederland Wereldomroep
January 15, 2010
Judges of the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda. © 2009 Jeremy Stephenson
The judicial decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have enriched the law on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch says as it releases a comprehensive digest of the tribunal's judgments.
The new 500-page book, Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, is available online and in print.
“The case law in this volume will provide guidance to judges and lawyers everywhere,” said Jennifer Trahan, a consultant to Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program and author of the book. “The tribunal’s jurisprudence has been immensely important in defining the indescribably horrific crimes committed in Rwanda and creating a solid body of jurisprudence.”
The UN Security Council established the Rwanda tribunal - bases in Arusha, Tanzania - to hold to account high-level perpetrators of the crimes committed during the 100-day mass slaughter in 1994. Those prosecuted include senior political and military leaders, as well as influential academics and journalists, and the popular songwriter Simon Bikindi, who was found guilty of assisting the genocide.
HRW says it was unfortunate that the Rwanda tribunal’s prosecutors did not charge those accused from all sides in the conflict, as the Yugoslav tribunal (ICTY) and the Sierra Leone Special Court (SCSL) did in the conflicts they addressed. The prosecutor failed to bring charges against members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front - today's leading party - who had also been implicated in war crimes. "This failure jeopardizes the tribunal’s long-term legacy," the rights organisation says.
The latest book organises the tribunal’s decisions by topic, including war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, individual responsibility, command responsibility, sentencing, fair trial rights, evidence, appellate review and guilty pleas.
“This book makes the important decisions of the tribunal uniquely accessible because it organizes the law by subject in one volume,” Trahan says.
The digest is dedicated to Dr. Alison Des Forges, who was killed in a plane crash outside Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009. Des Forges, senior adviser to Human Rights Watch's Africa division for almost two decades, dedicated her life to working on Rwanda and was the world's leading expert on the 1994 Rwanda genocide and its aftermath. She was also an expert witness at the tribunal in Arusha.
To view the Human Rights Watch book, “Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,” please visit: http://www.hrw.org/
Related Materials:
ICTR: Rwanda Tribunal Creates Rich Legal Precedent
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