Genocide

In a more modern sense, the conflicts in Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda were liberal efforts to assist the U. N. in maintaining humanitarian ideals throughout the globe. The Clinton administration could not gain support for these efforts from Congress, which showed that we had a liberal leader at the helm of a realist Congress. Today, the need for international cooperation is greater than ever. Global borders, once so vital, have eroded to the point that they are no longer visible to any but the most redoubtable warmongers.

In an era where one can contact Bora Bora in an instant, the necessity of communication and understanding is greater than ever. It is true that human nature will not change; what we can change is the manner in which we deal with it. Many people argue that the United Nations is an impotent organization whose time has passed. Others debate that the U. N. is the only forum in which the smaller nations of the world have a voice. Unfortunately, both views are correct. For instance, in the case of Bosnia, Serbian soldiers seized 350 UN peacekeepers as hostages.

The United States was forced to intervene in August of 1995. By November of 1995 the nations of Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia arranged to sit down and discuss the matter, and by the 21st of that month, an agreement was signed (Mingst 121). In this instance, then, the UN was powerless and had to look once more to the U. S. to provide international leadership. Realists quote this episode as the strongest example of their belief in the importance of military leadership. For the American public, too, military leadership is palatable, but only if the conflict is brief.

Other organizations, such as the ICC, or International Criminal Court, are of more recent origin. While it is not a new idea to punish nations in retaliation for war crimes, using an international forum in which to do so is an idea founded after the conflicts in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The ICC covers a very specific group of crimes and seeks to penalize the individuals responsible. The dictates that the ICC covers are genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. The ICC should help to avoid extradition issues in that the ICC has absolute jurisdiction over these aspects of international law.

It will also serve as a sounding board for enforcing individual and national accountability (Mingst 190). In order to comprehend the effectiveness of international organizations, one must first analyze how liberals and realists view them. Realists are basically state-centered; that is, they believe that states only act to preserve their own self-interests. While they acknowledge that international law has a place in preserving order and the status quo, they also feel that states only comply with international laws because it serves their self-interests to do so (Mingst 191).

Order brings benefits; therefore states should comply with imposed order to reap these benefits. For example, it behooves states to follow the dictums of maritime law and not invade foreign waters. Conflicts can be costly on an economic, psychological, and military level; therefore, most states abide by international laws to avoid reaping these costs. As for international organizations such as the UN, realists are skeptical. They feel that most of these organizations have more weaknesses than strengths. They aver that the UN has proven unproductive and ineffective.

An example of this might be the failure of the UN to enforce the 2003 resolutions against Iraq. In this manner, they claim, international law will only stand to reinforce the powerful states, because the dominant states are the only ones with the means to bring such causes to fruition. The realist belief system is essentially anarchic—they believe that states only cooperate with one another because it is in their self-interests to do so. If they choose to disregard the strictures of international law, they will also do so, particularly if the law in question directly affects their economic or military wellbeing.

Realists believe that international organizations and NGOs are completely useless in that they have no means of enforcing their dictums. They cite as examples the failure of the UN during the civil war in Yugoslavia. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the nation of Yugoslavia had no effective arbiter, i. e. the U. S. S. R., to mediate disputes. Yugoslavia had major fault lines within the country: religious, political, cultural, and historical (Mingst 204). The conflicts that resulted after Russia could no longer control the nation were so ferocious that the world was appalled.

Serbian leaders tried to maintain unity in the face of strong opposition from separatist movements from the Slovenian, Croatian, and Bosnia-Herzegovinian nations. Several countries jumped into the fray, supporting one cause or another, but this only served to make the situation worse and emphasized the ideals of Yugoslavia as a divided nation. Both the EU and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) tried to start negotiations, but none could come to a successful conclusion. Fighting broke out among the warring factions in the meantime.

At this point, the UN got involved to try to deliver humanitarian aid and establish a peacekeeping force. In the end, no international arbiter was able to settle the conflict, and Yugoslavia ultimately ended in the division of the country into four separate nations: Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Slovenia. In this manner, then, realists assert that this was the ultimate failure of international organizations versus the self-interests of states. The liberal view on international organizations is that human beings will ultimately follow the ideals of right.

Therefore, they follow international law because it is morally just to do so. In the liberal mind, all states will benefit from doing what is right and moral, and international organizations represent the ultimate culmination of this goal of international cooperation. States have general expectations about other states’ behavior (Mingst 190). In a system of mutual cooperation and respect, liberals argue, the system of international law will succeed. They do agree with the realists on one point: the system only works if powerful states become involved.

A request for aid or a diplomatic protest from a small or weak nation will most likely be ignored unless the vulnerable nation has a powerful ally. On the plus side of this argument, this type of international hegemony is precisely why treaty organizations and international courts function so well—they keep the large powers in check while protecting the interests of the smaller states. Thus it befits all nations to cooperate on an international level. The United States is not the only party to blame, however. The only nations who seem to take the U. N. completely seriously are the ones who have the least power to affect change. The United Nations needs to act more quickly and definitively and not leave the burden of responsibility on the U. S. While our role as the defenders of freedom is one which we have embraced readily in the past, it is not viable for the future. The U. N. and the WTO need to impose harsher penalties for those nations that fail to meet international laws, and the ICC needs more power to punish wrongdoers. In short, we need to stop being an anarchic collection of deviant nations and come together to fight for humanity.

This solution sounds simplistic, and is one which we may never realize within our lifetime. It is not an impossible solution, however. The EU was a pipe dream for years. Many of the European nations had resentments and issues that dated back for hundreds of years. What we and the international organizations can do is this: we can find a sustainable global economy and we can find viable solutions to issues that concern all of us. We can review the U. N. Charter and eliminate all outdated and useless language.

If this does not work, perhaps forming a new organization might be the key. We could take responsibility for nuclear weapons and finally make a definitive decision concerning their use and misuse. The easiest way to maintain global stability from terrorism would be to create a permanent U. N. army, with all nations represented. The U. N. would then have the military might to go beyond its peacekeeping duties but would be able to stop conflicts before they escalated. Ratification and acknowledgement of the ICC would also be a positive change (simpol. org).

If all nations knew that tyrants and terrorists would be punished accordingly and brought to justice it might eliminate the temptation to hide these criminals. John Bunzi of the International Simultaneous Policy Organization believes that these solutions are possible. As he writes, “The Simultaneous Policy is a peaceful political strategy to democratically drive all the world’s nations to apply global solutions to global problems, including combating global warming and environmental destruction, regulating economic globalization for the good of all, and delivering , peace and security, and sustainable prosperity” (simpol.org). The relevance to me as the reviewer is that the article allows me to infer my own ideas of human performance and how it can relate to my own business practices. The vacuum system is used too often in organizations and the needs and dilemmas of certain business training, and practices comes into full view as felonious when I read the article. In the article, it mentions that there are positive and negative consequences in the feedback level. If a worker is performing at the top of his or her ability then the company’s response is more work, which they conclude is a positive feedback.

Instead of continual delivery of on-time projects, because the worker is being laden with work they stop performing so well because they see that their co-workers are getting paid the same amount as them, but without the extra work. So, the dilemma is that the organization might view certain types of feedback as positive while the worker sees it as negative and thus the feedback affects the performance of their work. I have seen this played out many times in my own business relationships.

It shows me that a clear line of communication in the human performance system is integral to the performance of the entire organization. Without clear communication, the faults in an organization remain unaddressed in certain training programs and as the authors state, the company does not always know what is ‘broken’, to what extent, what area is at fault (human performance? ), how the performance is lacking in output, and what activity is causing the deficiency. Each of these areas, in my experience, is typically ignored in the business world.

No one wants to be assigned blame; so general maneuvers such as training programs are instilled as answers to what is wrong, when in fact what is wrong might not even be known. To further examine the tenacity of the aforementioned groups that provided succor to Bosnia certain questions should be researched. The first question that needs to be asked is the cons of having an organization come into a country without having full knowledge of the situation; in the case of Bosnia however, it was with the media that the world became aware of the genocide and thus, under the strict rules of advocating for human rights, the United States had to step in.

In some instances, the predicted behavior or reaction an institute exhibits in a chaotic environment isn’t calculable; this is witnessed repeatedly in the Bosnia conflict as no one organization stepped into the situation of Bosnia until after genocide and after destruction; the political world knew what was about to occur in this realm of the disintegrating Yugoslavian countryside, no political party or nation took responsibility and helped Bosnia. The human capacity for enduring extreme environments is astounding.

In the case of Bosnia however, a far less serious outcome may be become of the situation had prescience been used. Even if every level of organization is cooperative to the output deliverance of the institute, the reliance of that output depends on the human element, and that element must not be regarded as capable of extreme high performance of extreme low performance. Thus, when Bosnia effectively asked for help from Europe and the United States they did not expect either to say ‘no’.

Questions that should also be raised alongside the general ones presented in this paper in regards to the way in which national organizations have decided to deal with the Bosnia conflict are the benefits the people receive after being released from refugee camps or concentration camps: where will the people go? Who will help them? Each of these questions is relevant when considering human endurance in any capacity. The lack of, or the involvement of, these questions can deter a person from achieving their home or even of a company of maintaining in the person the belief that aid came when there was some to offer.

In human performance, though the macrocosm is important, there should also be a high degree of microcosm involved in the international environment if the question is about raising acknowledgment in all levels of political policies, and maintaining that performance. Research at this level should yield supporting data to human endurance and further state the fallacy in the vacuum system where communications are lost such as when does Bosnia need help, should they be helped, etc.?

Institutions such as NATO and the UN do not work to their highest quality in a vacuum. A vacuum isolates the institute from the people who need their help. In a vacuum setting the assumption of progress being made is linked to training input without any direction to what is fundamentally wrong with performance. If the organization doesn’t know what is wrong and tries to fix it, then nothing seriously is being accomplished. Also, if the international organization does have a downfall, then to what extent is that downfall hindering performance?

An alternative to this vacuum procedure of dealing with pitfalls in the international environment is to view country in need of aid as a priority. There are five points in the performance system when it comes to international politics and state agendas, they are: the institute, input, output, consequence, and feedback. At each level there is an interdependent relationship that allows for a well performing organization. Since the relationships are dependent on each other for high performance the organization must be adaptive.

In this adaptive system, there are three levels: organization level, process level, and individual level. To improve an organization and to steer clear from the vacuum effect, an organization must consider that within the society these levels, and improving performance, depend on whether or not on each level’s problems are being addressed and this begins with the question, it what ways have the international organizations failed? The main strength of the international organization lies in its ability to dissect and expound the idea of fast performance when a country is in need of such swiftness.

The organizations, especially the UN exude well thought out plans and deliver the idea of human rights being their number one priority as can be witnessed in their involvement with Bosnia during the crisis years. There are six variables by which the UN, NATO, etc must measure themselves, they are; performance specifications, task interference, consequences, feedback, knowledge/skill, and individual capacity. In this system these points make for a higher quality performance.

Another strength of the UN is that it doesn’t parlay the fault of lack of succor on any one country entirely but instead they focus on the positive and try and enlist help from other countries instead of bribing other countries, but allows for fault in all parts of the hierarchy in social concern. Both performers and how the UN addresses weakness in the input/output system should be under scrutiny, because the weakness must be dealt with in all parts of the hierarchy in order for the UN to be successful.

Conclusion

It may be surmised that Bosnia, though perhaps unavoidable could have been handled in a better international capacity, as such the genocide that was endured could have been side stepped. In fact, the new initial facts that the UN should support itself in political and international quarry as stated above should, chiefly among the idea of working towards stronger and better human rights, include the cooperation of other countries in its venture. The purpose of such an organization is to ensure that something like the genocide in Bosnia is not repeated.

Work Cited

1. Cox, Marcus. The Right to Return Home: International Intervention and the Ethnic Cleansing In Bosnia and Herzegovina. The International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 599-631. July 1998. Gutman, Roy. A Witness to Genocide. Macmillan Publishing Company. New York. 1993. Lieber, Robert J. : The Eagle Adrift: American Foreign Policy at the End of the Century. Glenview, Ill. Scott, Foresman, 1998. Mingst, Karen A. Essential Readings in World Politics. New York, NY. WW Norton & Company, 2004.
2. Mingst, Karen A. Essentials of International Relations. New York, NY. WW Norton & Company, 2004. Reiff, David. Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West. Simon & Schuster. New York. 1995. Slack, Andrew and Roy R. Doyon. Population Dynamics and Susceptibility for Ethnic Conflict: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 139-161. March 2001. Walt, Stephen M. International Relations: One World, Many Theories. Foreign Policy, Iss. 110. Pg. 29-45. Spring, 1998. www. simpol. org

The film “Cultural Genocide” presented Asa Hilliard III, an African American professor of educational psychology, who focused on the particularities of genocide, homicide and suicide. According to Hilliard, he recalls genocide as any one of the following acts with the attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, religious or racial group; few examples include killing members of a group, causing bodily harm and forcibly transferring children to another group.

Cultural genocide is best explained with examples, whereas indirect instances may include any prevention from practicing one’s culture or where one loses their sense of culture and a direct example is black on black killings. Homicide is an important issue Hilliard expresses, as there are many murders and bodily harm induced by African Americans towards other African Americans. Homicide not only includes lethal killings, but terminal illnesses as well, such as AIDS.AIDS is detrimental to any group, as it is can be carelessly transmitted to others, due to lack of awareness of their illness; however, it causes much damage to groups since it is being passed along, terminally harming individuals. There are many illnesses and murders that can definitely be avoided among African Americans, but they continue to be inflicted by harm, whether it is consciously or unconscious. In order to avoid such conflict, Hilliard suggests that African Americans need to be in touch with their cultural identity, he offers that it is a tie that binds a culture together, which calls for possible collaboration.Collaboration brings a sense of identity and teamwork to a culture, specifically as it allows a group to function, even when passing national boundaries, as well as individually.

With African Americans having better cultural identity, there is a possibility that black on black crime will decrease, as many will view each other as their “brothers and sisters”. If young African Americans viewed each other as family, they will most definitely treat each other with more respect and dignity, as the young will avoid physical harm among one another, which will deter crime.Nevertheless, the importance of cultural ties can link to relations among African Americans and more importantly, deter black on black crime. Black on black crime is not limited to only murders, but also within an extraordinary example, in which Hilliard presents regarding teachers in the classrooms and black communities. In predominantly African American classrooms, educators have struggled to find teachers, specifically African American teachers. Educators believe it is vital to have African American teachers, in order for the predominantly black students to perceive their own race as a role model.Having only European teachers be the majority may cause more racial gaps, but is it important to realize that educators did in fact try to employ African American teachers; however, they simply denied the employment opportunity, as they believed there was no potential for growth or promotion.

This example is no doubt causing harm among African Americans, children are not seeing their own race in the education field, causing much destruction, as potential dreams of being an educator can be damaged, as hope for their own race is non-existent.If there were more African American teachers in predominantly black schools, there is more potential for black children to see themselves as being a teacher. There are many ways to encourage children to strive for education, role models are definitely one of them and now that there is a black president in office, he serves as an icon for the African American community, as well as representing a change among racial gaps. Although a drastic change happened in the White house, it is important to remember the educational inconsistency among African American students.Many African American students still suffer many disparities among their school, including the lack of funds, which ultimately the youth endures the burden of having insufficient supplies for learning. Education is becoming severely limited for African American students, as there is a shortage of educational supplies necessary for learning, including books and even teachers. If African American teachers do not want to teach their own race, because of individual concerns of upward mobility, there is much damage imposed on African American children.

In order to succeed and move forward, African Americans need to remember their cultural ties and stand together. It is reality that there is an educational gap, where certain races are inclined to being economically despaired; therefore, African Americans need to remember the importance of their cultural ties, which will not only bring them together but also, help each individual succeed. Suicide is mentioned in Hilliard’s speech because of its increasing rate of deaths in the African American community.Hilliard announces it is the leading cause of death for African American men and in fact, more die from suicide than homicide. Women, too, are impacted by suicide, as they carry more attempts to kill themselves than men do. Suicide may have been caused by the lack of belonging to something, many came from broken families and did not have a sense of community, which caused the creation of gangs, where the youth seeks familial ties and sense of belonging, in order to make up for the lack of a family.There is definitely a pattern of why many African Americans suffer and it is due to the lack of cultural identity, many have no clue where they come from and it is indeed causing much destruction.

Many African Americans feel they do not belong to anything, as they lack a family, which in turn, leads them to feeling worthless, causing identity loss and thoughts of suicide. In order to make sure no other African American children feel the sense of unworthiness, there must be more collectiveness and collaboration to help overcome upcoming generations and prevent them from feeling unworthy.Many can begin by joining community groups, religious groups, or sporting activities, just to give the initial feeling of belonging to a population, this can therefore, boost self-esteem and bring identity to one’s life. The African American community must work collectively and they are definitely at a good start, as President Obama can help many of his black “brothers and sisters” conquer racial and economic disparities.

Critically examine the circumstances under which the United Nations Security Council can trigger the exercise of jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court.

Abstract

Human rights and fundamental freedoms are an important element of international law and foreign policy. This has led to many interventionist measures being employed by various international bodies.

The ability of the United Nations Security Council to trigger the exercise of jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court is an important measure, which seeks to ensure that the international community is being protected from crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The extent to which the Security Council enforces its powers will be examined by looking at the various circumstances which trigger the Security Council to refer situations to the ICC.

Introduction

The maintenance of international peace and security is the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council. This is provided for under the United Nations Charter to maintain international peace and security. In doing so, the Security Council has the power to refer situations to the International Criminal Court although it is questionable what extent the ICC enforces such powers as much critique has surrounded the Security Council’s ability to protect individuals.

This essay will therefore critically examine the circumstances under which the United Nations Security Council can trigger the exercise of jurisdiction by the ICC. This will be done by first reviewing the role of the ICC and then looking at its jurisdiction. It will then be considered under what circumstances the Security Council can refer situations to the ICC, followed by an explanation of some of the referrals that have been made. Once this has been done, a critical evaluation of the relationship between the Security Council and the ICC will then be made.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a permanent international judicial body that has the power to prosecute individuals for crimes that national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute such as; crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.[1] The ICC was established in 2002 by the Rome Statute and is currently located in The Hague and the Netherlands, although individuals can be tried anywhere in the world.

The ICC has been considered one of the most significant developments that help to prevent harm or death to individuals all over the world. In order for the ICC to be effective, however, States need to be a party to it. Nevertheless, only 122 States are currently party to the ICC, which signifies how the ICC will not be workable in all countries. Regardless of this, there is generally a universal consensus in respect of these types of crimes, which gives all States the ability to try individuals found to have committed such crimes irrespective as to where there were allegedly committed.[2]

This subsequently provides the international community with some comfort that such crimes will not be tolerated and enables States to take steps to prevent these crimes in other countries. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 was enacted by the UK to incorporate the ICC into UK and Northern Ireland law and thereby provides some assistance to these countries when trying criminals for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

The European Union works closely with Member States to enforce the law and prosecute individuals for these crimes by compelling Member States to inform law enforcement authorities as soon as they suspect that an individual has committed, or is likely to commit, one of these crimes. Once Member States have informed the relevant authorities, such individuals will then be capable of being tried in that Member States or by the ICC if necessary.[3]

Crimes against humanity are those acts that are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, such as murder, deportation, torture and rape, that is directed against any civilian population.[4] War crimes are those which are considered to be a grave breach of the Geneva Convention 1949 such as; torture, willful killing and inhuman treatment.

Genocide are those acts that are committed with the sole intent to “destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such, including killing members of the group, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and forcibly”[5]. Consequently, the international community is required to prevent such acts from occurring under the Rome Statute. Therefore, any individual who commits one of the said offences, whilst on the territory of the consenting State, will be capable of being tried by the ICC.

Jurisdiction of the ICC

Once a State ratifies the Rome Convention and becomes a party to it, jurisdiction of the ICC is accepted automatically in respect of all crimes that fall within the ambit of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Accordingly, there are four different ways in which jurisdiction can be granted which are; 1) if the accused is a national to a consenting State party under the Rome Convention; 2) if the crime took place on one of the State parties territories; 3) if the UN Security Council (Security Council) refers a situation to the court; and 4) if a State party accepts the jurisdiction.

This ensures that the protection of the international community is being preserved at all times. Nevertheless, many questions have been raised as to the relationship between the ICC and nonparty States, and whether or not it is acceptable to enforce jurisdiction upon non-participating parties.[6] However, as pointed out by Akande that; “not only is this delegation of jurisdiction to the ICC lawful, but it is also a desirable way of preventing the impunity from prosecution which characterized the twentieth century.”[7] Thus, it has been said that the ICC is better placed at preventing the worst type of crimes from being committed[8] although Akande notes that; “it is probably the case that continued refusals to prosecute these persons encourage them and others to commit crimes.”[9] It is unclear how accurate this assertion is, yet it is evident that great difficulty would ensure when trying to prosecute such individual’s if the ICC had not been established.

Security Council’s ability to trigger the ICC’s exercise of jurisdiction

Whilst the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is independent from the United Nations (UN), the UN has played a vital role in the development of the ICC. Co-operation with the UN is thereby one of the main priorities of the ICC.[10] (Coalition for the International Criminal Court, 2013: 1). Consequently, the Security Council thereby a responsibility to ensure international peace and security is being maintained by all States.

Essentially if the Security Council is of the view that international peace and security is being threatened, they may decide on the appropriate measures to take, which includes referring a situation to the ICC.[11] If the Security Council refers a situation to the ICC, the ICC will be empowered under Articles 13 (b) and 15 of the Rome Statute to investigate all of the crimes contained with the Rome Statute without further conditions being imposed upon them.

Essentially, the exercise of jurisdiction by the ICC is the only way in which the ICC is capable of investigating such crimes without the consent of the States involved. As such, the Security Council has significant powers to exercise the jurisdiction of the ICC and as put by Shouman; “a Security Council deferral can be invaluable to attaining peace during a period of armed conflict.”[12] In effect, the Security Council plays a vital role in the international community and is integral to the maintenance of peace and security and has been considered the most powerful trigger mechanism of the ICC.[13]

Security Council Referral’s

In March 2005, the Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC under Resolution 1593. This provided the ICC with the ability to prosecute crimes that had been committed in Darfur, with the main focus being on the barbaric civil war in Sudan, which led to the deaths of over 300,000 individuals. This was considered to be one of the biggest disasters that had ever occurred[14] and as such the referral to the ICC was considered integral to preserving international justice[15]. The referral was made under Article 13(b) of the Statute of Rome which states that the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction in situations whereby “one or more of such crimes appears to have been committed.” This was an important breakthrough for the ICC in that it enabled its ability to prosecute the most serious of crimes to be tested. The Security Council essentially used its powers to extend the jurisdiction of the ICC to a significant degree, which was important in allowing the ICC to demonstrate its capabilities. However, because the United States limited the scope of the ICC and thus introduced its own national interests into the Statute of Rome’s framework it has been questioned whether the powers of the Security Council are as effective as one may have anticipated. This is because the United States has the ability to control the referrals that are made to the ICC by setting precedents for the referral process.[16] Arguably, this weakens the powers of the Security Council and is likely to influence the way future referrals are made.

This is evidenced by the so-called ‘Bush doctrine’ which enables serious crimes to be committed in circumstances where there is no evidence of a pending attack. Thus, after the Bush doctrine was publicised, an attack was made by the US, the UK, Australia and various other states against Iraq. No consent had been obtained from the Security Council under Chapter VII to lead such an attack, which appeared to suggest that the attacks were illegal and thus amounted to a war of aggression. Hence, the attacks could not be justified as a matter of self defence, and had the possibility of being an “abuse of power and force”[17] This provides a clear example of how national law is capable of conflicting with international law and thus undermining the powers of the Security Council. Furthermore, even when the Security Council does impose sanctions on States, these often come under criticism. This was exemplified by Kondoch when it was made clear that the Security Council’s sanctions during the last decade have “come under harsh criticism and the experience of the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 show the ethical and legal ambiguity of sanctions.”[18] Therefore, even when the Security Council’s powers are enforced, they are often deemed ineffective. In addition, even though the Security Council has the ability to make referrals to the ICC, it is questionable whether it uses its powers effectively since it has been argued that protection is not always being afforded to the international community.

An example of this can be seen in relation to the lack of protection that was afforded to the Palestinians under the Israel system, also known as the Gaza war. Essentially, the UN and the international community were said to have failed in “exerting effective pressure on the parties to achieve accountability and justice for the victims”.[19] The Security Council was thus reluctant to establish an independent committee of experts to monitor investigations into Palestinian victims and appropriate protection was therefore lacking. In order to ensure that the main objectives of the ICC and the powers of the Security Council are being effectuated; proper investigations into suspected violations of the appropriate protection that is to be afforded to the international community must be made. Civil conflicts can have devastating effects on communities and unless there is some form of protection in place, justice will not be done. Given that the ICC “stands at the pinnacle of international obligations to see that justice is served”[20] it is necessary for the ICC to take the lead in preserving the interests of communities and ensuring that applicable measures are in place for dealing with any post conflict re-construction. The relationship between the Security Council and the ICC is important since the Security Council has the ability enforce its Resolutions onto the ICC and can obstruct it’s complementarily principle.

Resolution 1422, which was adopted in 2002, enabled peacekeeping personnel to be exempted from the Rome Convention for a period of 12 months. Accordingly, this resolution prevented the ICC from making any further investigations into US troops in order to protect them whilst they were engaging in peacekeeping missions.[21] Although it was claimed by the Security Council that the Resolution was in accordance with Article 16 of the Rome Statute as it was in the interests of ‘peace and security’ much criticism ensured from the adoption of this Resolution. It was argued by Canada that this Resolution was in fact, broader than the scope of the ICC[22] and by the UK that this seriously restricted the ICC’s powers.[23] It was also said that Resolution 1422 exceeded “the powers granted to the Security Council by the ICC under Article 16, as well as for violating the UN Charter”[24]. It was also argued by that the Resolution violated the Rome Statute and because of this it has been questioned whether the Security Council has acted ultra vires in respect of Article 16.[25] This may be the case given the requirements of Article 16 since it is provided for under this Article that there must be a threat of peace and security, which appeared to be lacking when the Resolution was adopted. Arguably, the scope of this Resolution largely conflicts with Article 16 and does not appear to preserve the interests of the international community.

More recently, the Security Council referred the Libya situation in its 1970 Resolution to the ICC after they expressed concerns over the violence and use of force against civilians. As put by Alston and Goodman; the Security Council had deplored the “gross and systematic violation of human rights, including the repression of peaceful demonstrators”[26] and thus expressed deep concern over the deaths of many civilians. This highlights the type of circumstances the Security Council ought to refer to the ICC, although it is evident that the Security Council has previously ignored conflicts in Liberia.[27] Essentially, had the Security Council been a lot more pro-active in preserving the interests of the international community, it is likely that much of the damage that was caused as a result of this conflict could have been prevented early on. In effect, the protection of civilians against war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity is not always being preserved within the international community and much more needs to be done to refer situations to the ICC. One of the main problems that occur is the lack of co-operation between Nation States. Thus, whilst the United Nations seeks to achieved international co-operation Article 1 of the Charter, this cannot always be achieved. Despite this, human rights and fundamental freedoms have, in recent years, become an essential part of international law and foreign policy. This has resulted in many States adopting various mechanisms that will help to maintain peace, and democracy.

As Maiese points out; “there is growing consensus that the protection of human rights is important for the resolution of conflict and to the rebuilding process afterward.”[28] Therefore, the preservation of human rights is at the forefront of all conflict resolutions, although it is questionable whether the Security Council has been as effective in preventing such conflictions as one would have thought. There is a growing need for further international intervention by the Security Council so that citizens are being adequately protected. The international community have, nonetheless, “identified a number of mechanisms both to bring an end to human rights abuses and to establish an environment in which they will be respected in the future”[29]. However, it is unclear whether such adoptions have proven effective given the widely accepted notion that human rights continue to be subject to abuse. However, “given this interdependence, international cooperation and shared responsibility have been entrenched as the twin principles upon which the fundamental and collective values of human rights are to be realised”[30]. Still, the protection of human rights is at the forefront of international principles, yet a balance needs to be struck between protecting individual freedom with the protection of national security.[31] This is extremely difficult to achieve and whilst the Security Council has made some attempts to intervene where necessary, this does not appear to suffice.

Conclusion

Overall, whilst the UN Security Council has played a vital role in the development of the ICC, it is questionable how effective it is in preserving international peace and security. This is because, although the Security Council has referred various situations to the ICC, there are instances where the Security Council has failed to protect the interests of civilians. In accordance with this, it is evident that further intervention is required if international peace and security is to be preserved. Essentially, the preservation of international human rights protections are at the forefront of all post conflict resolutions, which is why it is integral that the Security Council makes applicable referrals to the ICC in order to preserve international peace and security. Because of the lack of co-operation that currently exists between States, nonetheless, it is likely that difficulties will continue to arise in this area. Hence, not all States will ratify the Rome Statute, which will make it difficult to achieve conformity when adopting various Security Council Resolutions.

Bibliography

Books

Erik K Leonard, The Onset of Global Governance: International Relations Theory and the International Criminal Court, (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2005).

IIias Bantekas, International Criminal Law, 4th Edition, (Hart Publishing 2010).

Max Hilaire, United Nations Law and the Security Council, (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2005).

Journal Articles

Amnesty International, ‘International Criminal Court: Security Council Must Refuse to Renew Resolution 1422’ (2003) AI Index: IOP 40/008/2003.

Boris Kondoch, The Limits of Economic Sanctions under International Law: The Case of Iraq (2008) http://www.casi.org.uk/info/kondoch01.pdf 12 December 2013.

Cartsen Stahn, ‘The Future of International Criminal Justice’ (2003) The Hague Justice Portal, http://www.brandeis.edu/ethics/pdfs/internationaljustice/biij/BIIJ2013/stahn.pdf 16 December 2013, 85.

Coalition for the International Criminal Court. ‘About the Court’ (2012) ICC Now, http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=court 11 December 2013.

Coalition for the International Criminal Court. (2012) A Universal Court with Global Support – UN and the ICC, ICC Now, [Online], Available: http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=unicc [11 December 2013].

Corrina Heyder, ‘The UN Security Security Council’s Referral of the Crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court in Light of US Opposition to the Court: Implications for the International Criminal Court’s Functions and Status’ (2006) Berkeley Journal of International Law, Volume 24, Issue

Dapo Akande, ‘The Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Nationals of Non-Parties: Legal Basis and Limits’ (2003) Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 1.

David Blunkett and Geoffrey Bindman, ‘Government versus the law’ (2002) Law Society Gazette, Issue 38, LS Gaz, 03 Oct.

David Wippman, ‘Atrocities, Deterrence and the Limits of International Justice’ (1999) Fordham International Law Journal, Volume 23.

Donald Hafner and Elizabeth King, ‘Beyond traditional notions of transitional justice: how trials, truth commissions and other tools of accountability can and should work together’ (2007) International and Comparative Law Review, Volume 30, Article 6.

Europa, ‘Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes: Criminal Investigation and Prosecution’ (2003) Summaries of EU Legislation, http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/judicial_cooperation_in_criminal_matters/l16005_en.htm 11 December 2013.

Global Campaign for the Crime of Aggression, ‘The ICC and the UN Security Security Council’ (2013) Crime of Aggression, http://crimeofaggression.info/role-of-the-icc/the-icc-and-the-un-security-Security Council/ 12 December 2013.

Margot E Salomon, Global Responsibility for Human Rights: World Poverty and the Development of International Law (OUP Oxford, 2007).

Maximo Langer, ‘Universal Jurisdiction as Janus Faced’ (2013) Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 11, Issue 4.

Michelle Maiese, ‘Human Rights Protection’ (2004) http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/human_rights_protect/ 12 December 2013.

Mohamed El-Zeidy, M, ‘The United Nations Dropped the Atomic Bomb of Vanderbilt’ (2002) Journal of Trans National Law, Volume 35.

Scott Straus, ‘Darfur and the Genocide Debate, International Commission for Inquiry on Darfur’ (2005) Report of the International Commission for Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary General, http://www.un.org/News/dh/sudan/com_inq_darfur.pdf 12 December 2013.

Tomasz Iwanek, ‘The 2003 Invasion of Iraq: How the System Failed’ (2010) Journal of Conflict and Security Law 89, Volume 15, Issue 1.

SIPRI, ‘UN Arms Embargo on Libya’ (2011), http://www.sipri.org/databases/embargoes/un_arms_embargoes/libya/libya_2011 [17 December 2013].

United Nations, ‘International Organisations’ (2010) International Relations Law, Volume 61, 5th Edition.

Luigi Condorelli and Annalisa Ciampi, ‘Comments on the Security Security Council Referral of the Situation in Darfur to the ICC’ (2005) Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 11, Issue 5.

United Nations, General Assembly, Human Rights Security Council, (2010) Thirteenth Session, Agenda item 7, Human Rights Situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories, http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2B74828D74985F67852576D9005AA5EE, 12 December 2013.

United Nations, ‘International Organisations’ (2010) International Relations Law, Volume 61, 5th Edition.

Mohammad Shouman, ‘The Role of the UN Security Security Council in the ICC’ (2012) ICJ Central, http://ijcentral.org/blog/the_role_of_the_u.n._security_Security Council_in_the_icc/ 11 December 2013.

INTRODUCTION

Genocide remains at its core an act that has plagued human beings for many centuries. It simply refers to the intentional destruction of a group of individuals such that the death toll almost defies belief (Prunier 1997). For example, the genocidal regimes in the 20th century alone resulted in the annihilation of sixty million people (Kuper 1981). Among the most notorious was the Nazi Germany where tens of millions who were characterized as “savage” indigenous people were annihilated in the name of “progress”(Kuper 1981).
Genocide however remains a difficult event to analyze since it represents the most horrible of deeds. How can we comprehend such levels of atrocitiesIt has also been argued that an analytical explanation of genocide especially by those who did not experience it is a futile exercise, one that falls short in its task of elucidation (Jongman 1996). Nevertheless, finding an explanation to the causes of such atrocities are prerequisites to restoring social order. While remaining sensitive to the victims of genocide, many scholars believe that such atrocities are a result of human behaviour, albeit an extreme one (Halpern & Kideckel 2000).

RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

While genocide has been given vast and lengthy coverage in other disciplines, the relatively lack of research on genocide within the field of anthropology is surprising. For example, until the mid – 1980s, anthropologists have remained silent with regards to the Holocaust (Hinton 2002). Also there are very few anthropological articles exploring the Armenian genocide. This raises a fundamental question. Why have anthropologists failed to engage with the genocide topic more critically?
As Fein (1990) suggests, this neglect is shared by other social sciences which have pushed the genocide topic into the realm of specialty studies. There might have been hesitancy among anthropologists on tackling this matter because of its perceived threat to the concept of cultural relativity or perhaps they shied away from politically volatile issues. Whatever the reasons, they began to engage more actively in this topic during the 1980s.
In contributing to the small body of work on genocide in this field, this dissertation will examine the social and psychological implications of genocide on women. The dissertation will seek a deeper understanding of the most heinous crimes in history from an anthropological perspective. The researcher will not only describe the occurrence of such events, but also give an explanation for such an occurrence. The study will thus take new points of view which would be helpful in understanding the magnitude of past atrocities and in developing strategies to prevent the reoccurrence of such future massacres at the heart of humanity

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objectives of this study are:
• To investigate the social and psychological effects of genocide on women
• To understand the magnitude of past atrocities and give an explanation for such an occurrence from the perspective of anthropologists.
• To develop strategies to preventing the reoccurrence of future atrocities.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Whereas research focusing on genocide is vast, relatively few studies that explore on genocide from anthropological perspective have been published. In his book, Genocide: A sociological perspective, Fein (1990) describes the evolution of the genocide concept. Fein outlines key issues in the anthropology of genocide and laments the lack of academic research in this field. The author further proposes a criterion for distinguishing genocide and suggests new directions for further genocide research in the field of social sciences.

Zygmunt (1991) explores on modernity and the holocaust. He argues that the Holocaust was a product of modernity since it constituted of a coalescence of several aspects of modernity. While sharing a similar view, Bodley (1999) argues that the annihilation of indigenous people is a subject of modernity. In his book, “victims of progress”, he notes that genocide has been justified on grounds of modernity – the idea of “progress”. These pieces along with other seminal works from a few other anthropologists constitute the genocide studies in the field of anthropology showing the lack of academic research in this field.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The scope and content of this research will be guided by the following research questions
• What are the social and psychological implications of genocide on women?
• What are the possible causes of past atrocities?
• What strategies can anthropologists employ to prevent the reoccurrence of such future massacres?

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH APPROACH

A quantitative research approach has been considered for this dissertation because such an approach would be more useful in obtaining a broader depth of analysis on the impact of genocide on women. Given the nature of this study, it would be more tenable to conduct a quantitative research.
RESEARCH STRATEGY

Secondary data sources will be employed as the main method of data collection and analysis. An important part of the strategy will be to ensure the availability and easy retrieval of the relevant data, given the vast amount of secondary data. This is important because archived secondary data are usually very large and retrieving the relevant information can be time consuming.
DATA COLLECTION

Survey will be used as the primary instrument for data collection. The researcher will survey archival documents on genocide research. Survey documents will be obtained from the British and US archives.
DATA ANALYSIS

In analyzing the data obtained above, the researcher will utilize publications from other sources in order to supplement the findings. The study will utilize scholarly and academic journals, textbooks and relevant publications on the implications of genocides on women, especially the book entitled “annihilating difference: the Anthropology of genocide”. The report by USAID’s Center for Development Information and Evaluation (CDIE) will also form an important contribution in this study. This report evaluates gender issues in postconflict societies while focusing predominantly on the impact of genocide on women (Dadrian 1995).
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The main ethical issue likely to emerge in this study is the issue of obtaining consent with the primary researcher. It should be noted that informed consent cannot be presumed where there are sensitive data involved. However, given that it might not be feasible to seek additional consent, a professional judgment will have to be made by the researcher regarding the re-use of data and whether this amounts to violation of contracts made between the primary researchers and the subjects of genocidal regimes.

CONCLUSION

In view of the above, it can be concluded that this analysis is of paramount importance. Besides giving the social and psychological implications of genocide on women, the research will be helpful in understanding the magnitude of past atrocities and in developing strategies to prevent future occurrence of such massacres at the heart of humanity.

REFERENCES

Bodley, J., 1999. Victims of progress. 4th edition. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Dadrian, V. , 1995. The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans
to Anatolia to the Caucasus. Providence, RI: Berghahn Books.
Fein, H., 1990. “Genocide: A sociological perspective”. Current sociology. Vol 38 (1)
Halpern, J.M., and D.A. Kideckel. 2000. Neighbours at war: Anthropological perspectives on Yugoslav ethnicity, culture and history. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.
Hinton, A.L., 2002. Annihilating Difference: The anthropology of Genocide. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Jongman, A.J., 1996. Contemporary Genocides: causes, cases, consequences. Leiden: PIOOM
Kuper, L., 1981. Genocide: Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century. NY: Penguin Paperback.
Prunier, G., 1997. The Rwanda crisis: History of a Genocide. 2nd edition. Columbia: Columbia University Press
Zygmunt, B., 1991. Modernity and the Holocaust. New York: Cornell University Press

Christopher Columbus: Hero or Zero? In October we celebrate the man who found America. People are taught at a young age that Christopher Columbus was a hero when in fact he was a murderer. Yes, he found a land that was unknown to his people, but in his findings, he murdered, raped and enslaved the true natives of this country. Columbus and his men destroyed the civilizations, cultures, and land of the Native Americans. These actions should not be portrayed as heroic. When you read about his thoughts and actions during his voyages, you can see that Columbus was not civil towards the natives he encountered.

When he first sighted what he called “Indians” he saw a group of unclothed people, their nakedness, to him, represented lack of culture and religion. To Columbus, this was an opportunity to spread the word of God and exploit the Native Americans. He thought they would be easy to defeat because of their apparent defenseless and a source of profit because the Native Americans could easily be enslaved. It clearly did not occur to Columbus to consider these people anything but slaves. His thoughts were only a fraction as to what was to come.

In Columbus’s letters you can sense his arrogant attitude in claiming the lands he found. He wrote a letter telling of his discovery to his friend Luis de Santangel, in this letter he wrote, “And there I found very many islands filled with people innumerable and of them all I have taken possession for their Highnesses…” Columbus never considered the fact that these islands, and their inhabitants, were not his to take and change as he pleased. Columbus informed Spain of his new discovery when returned.

He brought with him many new things, as well as kidnapped Indians to pay tribute to Spain and lionize himself. Any Indians that were not taken to Spain were made slaves on the islands. The settlers that came to the islands with Columbus were allowed to select any Indian they wanted for a slave. Enslavement was inevitable and no one seemed bothered by the mistreatment of the Native Americans. Columbus and his people deemed themselves as superior to them. Enslavement was not the only thing the Native Americans had to endure; Columbus also threatened and intimidated them and even tortured and killed them.

Columbus felt Christians did no wrong so they never got punished for their inhumane actions towards Indians and he was in charge so he felt he could do as he pleased without consequence. Many people terrorized the Indians and instead of Columbus punishing the culprit he punished the Indian victims. Instances like that led to a war between Columbus and the settlers, and the Indians. Indians did not have the weapons necessary to defeat the settlers and were wiped out; those that were not killed were captured. Accounts of rape that Columbus and his men committed were reported by people who he traveled with.

Columbus would pass captured native women out to his men so therefore they believed they did not need the women’s consent and as horrible as this seems, those were the less violent acts towards the Indians. Columbus and the settlers were very cruel. They would make examples out of Indians by doing things like cutting their hands off and telling them to share the message and they would slaughter entire villages including children. These are the acts that Columbus and his men partook in. Christopher Columbus should never have been nor should be considered a hero.

He destroyed what he discovered, wiped out an entire population and never finished his goal of finding a route to Asia. How is that heroic?

Works Cited “Marvelous possessions: the wonder of the New World” By Stephen Greenblatt ^quote on page 2 found on page 52^ “A short account of the destruction of the Indies” By Bartolome de las Casas Columbus: Letter to Louis De Santangel, 1493 http://www. wwnorton. com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs19. htm “The mysterious history of Columbus: an exploration of the man, the myth, the legacy” By John Noble Wilford