PSCI 4820 War Crimes and International Justice
Paper Assignment #1
The international laws and precedents that describe the crimes over which the ICTY and ICTR have jurisdiction are surprisingly short of detail, but often full of controversy. The International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the Geneva Conventions on war crimes and even earlier pre World War I international laws make certain actions criminal offenses under international law, but do not always contain much detail about important elements of these crimes. In fact, there is no governing international law at all (only precedents in judicial opinions) concerning crimes against humanity. Your paper assignment involves an analysis of a particular area of ambiguity and/or controversy in international humanitarian law. The purpose of this assignment is to consider why these ambiguities or controversies occur. Do they occur because the international community cannot agree on the “right” legal language? Do they occur because the international community would rather not address the issue for fear of infringing on state sovereignty or the rights of individuals? Would additional clarification or further elaboration have sparked controversy and doomed efforts to criminalize certain actions?
For example, you might describe what the meaning of the term, “protected group” is in the Genocide Convention. Why does it not include political groups? You might analyze the meaning of the term, “international conflict” in the laws governing war crimes. Why were international lawmakers reluctant for so long to extend protections to civilians during times of civil war? Why are some conflicts international and other wars, intranational?
The first step in this paper assignment is to read the relevant chapters in the book and the international laws and precedents themselves to find an area of international law in which there is an ambiguity or where there is controversy, and in which you are personally interested. You should first determine which of the three broad areas of international law you are interested in: 1) war crimes; 2) crimes against humanity; or 3) genocide. There are certainly other relevant issues as well, such as the status of various types of crimes including rape, in international law, universal jurisdiction, and other topics. Whichever issue you choose, and after reading the course materials, you need to do a search on the UNT Library’s Lexis/Nexis program to find articles on the subject, especially in law reviews. Search on your general topic (e.g., “war crimes”) and the “ICTY” or “ICTR” as your search terms. Scan through the articles and pick out a few to examine more closely. After you have begun to narrow down your topic, further refine your search strings, to something like “genocide”, and “protected groups”. Read the articles that Lexis/Nexis returns. After this you can begin to formulate the theme or thesis of your paper. After familiarizing yourself with the subject you will write a paper containing the following elements.
First, describe the international law or precedent you wish to analyze (roughly 1 page).
Second, discuss the problem or ambiguity you find in the law (roughly 2 pages).
Third, discuss possible interpretations of that part of the law at issue (roughly 2 pages).
Fourth, discuss what you believe to be the most appropriate interpretation of the law (roughly 2 pages).
The paper must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, 12-point font, have a cover page, endnotes/footnotes and a reference section. The paper should be at least 2000 words in length, not including endnotes/footnotes and references. It is due Thursday, March 26 at 9:30 am in both hard copy and in electronic form.