The United States And International Criminal Tribunals: An Historical Analysis

The relationship between the United States and international criminal tribunals has lasted for almost 100 years at least

The Evolution of International Criminal Tribunals

International criminal justice is a relatively new and uniquely distinct system of criminal justice. It combines international law and criminal law from various legal systems. Historically, international law applied only to States; however, it is now applied to individuals through its merging with criminal law. The majority of States have been genuinely unwilling or unable to prosecute those most responsible for the planning and commission of international crimes. This lack of genuine willingness to prosecute perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity has resulted in the recent creation of multiple international criminal tribunals. The emergence of international and quasi-international criminal tribunals should not reflect the assumption that the idea of such courts is new. On the contrary, the idea and discussions for creating international criminal tribunals have been with us for well over a century. This article traces the evolution of international criminal tribunals starting from 1864. Each major debate to establish an international criminal tribunal is closely analyzed. The article concludes with analysis of the International Criminal Court

The First Attempt to Prosecute the Crime of Aggression

The crime of aggression, also known as the supreme international crime, is the most controversial international crime. It is the only international crime that requires state participation, therefore making it a political crime. Moreover, illegal war often includes other international crimes, including terrorism, torture, genocide, and crimes against humanity, and it differs only in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. Aggression was included in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998 without a definition. The Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court adopted a criminal definition of aggression at the ICC\u27s first review conference in 2010. It remains unclear when, and under which conditions, the Court will have jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of aggression. The controversy over prosecuting heads of states for aggression dates back to at least 1919 when the Allied and Associated Powers of the First World War established the first international war crimes commission to consider prosecuting Wilhelm the Second for committing the crime of aggression. Through the use of archives, this paper analyzes the debates within the 1919 war crimes commission when it considered the first attempt to prosecute the international crime of aggression

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

The United States and International Criminal Tribunals

This study examines the policies put forth by the United States during international debates that established international criminal tribunals from the pre-First World War era to 2012. Each chapter closely considers the United States¿s role and position during each era. The first chapter covers the era prior to the First World War, including the development of the Lieber Code and the prosecution of Henry Wirz. The second chapter analyzes the United States\u27s position on establishing an international criminal court for the prosecution of Germany\u27s former Emperor, William II, at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Chapter three covers the interwar period. Chapter four covers the post-Second World War era and the United States\u27s role in establishing the International Military Tribunal and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Chapter five considers the Cold War era and the United States\u27s policy during the debates in the General Assembly, Genocide Convention, and Apartheid Convention on the topic of establishing an international criminal court. Chapter six considers the post-Cold War era and includes discussions in the United States to establish an international criminal tribunal for Iraq, as well as the United States\u27s role in establishing the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the special courts for Sierra Leone and Lebanon. Furthermore, this study devotes two chapters to the relationship between the United States and the International Criminal Court. Chapter seven analyzes the period immediately following the Cold War from 1989 through the Rome Conference in 1998. Chapter eight analyzes the United States\u27s position on the International Criminal Court during the period following the Rome Conference to the present time, including the last two years of William Clinton¿s presidency, the eight years of George W. Bush\u27s presidency, and the first term of Barack Obama¿s presidency

THE COMMISSION ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHORS OF THE WAR AND ON ENFORCEMENT OF PENALTIES AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE AFTER WORLD WAR II

ABSTRACT. This article traces the evolution of discussions within the Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties and the United Nations War Crimes Commission regarding the establishment of an international criminal court. The Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties was the ?rst war crimes commission that seriously debated establishing an international criminal court for the prosecution of war criminals. Following the discussions held in the UNWCC, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg was created. All three institutions played a major part in the development of international criminal law

Internal Carotid Artery Dissection Causing a Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion in a Young Adult

Purpose: To report a 34-year-old healthy man with an internal carotid artery dissection who presented with an ipsilateral branch retinal artery occlusion. Method: Case report. Results: Ophthalmic examination of a young adult presenting with transient monocular visual loss and a superior nasal field defect disclosed a left inferior branch retinal artery occlusion. After fluorescein angiography, the patient had a vasovagal response, and his condition worsened to a left central retinal artery occlusion. Neurologic evaluation followed by carotid angiography disclosed a left internal carotid artery dissection with total occlusion of the internal carotid artery. Conclusion: The differential diagnosis of retinal arterial occlusion in a young healthy adult without any notable ocular or medical history, including trauma, should include spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection

Red fluorescence of European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) spines results from free-base porphyrins of potential microbial origin

Bioluminescence has been recognized as an important means for inter- and intra-species communication. A growing number of reports of red fluorescence occurring in keratinaceous materials have become available. The fluorophore(s) in these cases were shown to be, or suspected to be, free base porphyrins. The red fluorescence found in the downs of bustards was associated with inter-species signaling in mate selection. First reported in 1925, we confirm that spines of the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) when irradiated with UV (365–395 nm) light display red fluorescence localized in the light-colored sections of their proximal ends. Using reflectance fluorescence spectroscopy, we confirmed that the fluorophores responsible for the emission are free-base porphyrins, as suspected in the original report. Base-induced degradation of the spine matrix and subsequent HPLC, UV-vis, and ESI+ mass spectrometry analysis revealed the presence of a mixture of coproporphyrin III and uroporphyrin III as predominant porphyrins and a minor fraction of protoporphyrin IX. Investigation of the spine microbiome uncovered the abundant presence of bacteria known to secrete and/or interconvert porphyrins and that are not present on the non-fluorescing quills of the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum). Given this circumstantial evidence, we propose the porphyrins could originate from commensal bacteria. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the fluorescence may be incidental and of no biological function for the hedgehog