Amnesty for Crimes against Humanity under International Law Book

Preface     xi
Abbreviations     xiii
General Introduction
Introduction     1
Setting of the Book     5
Scope and Limits of the Book     7
The Concept of Amnesty
Meaning, Forms and Purpose of Amnesty     9
Meaning and Forms of Amnesty     9
Meaning     9
Forms     12
Purpose of Amnesty     13
Historical Background of Amnesty     15
Amnesty in Pre-World War II Conflicts     15
Amnesty in Connection with World War II     20
Amnesty in Immediate Post-World War II Conflicts     21
Status of Amnesty Under the Laws and Customs of War Before and After 1945     22
Justification or Motive for Amnesty     24
Scope of Amnesty: Extent and Limits     27
Amnesty in International Peace Treaties     27
Amnesty in Domestic Instruments     29
Legal Effects and Consequences of Amnesty     31
Derogatory Effects     31
Effects on the Personal Liability of the Perpetrator     32
Procedural Effects     32
Critics of Amnesty     34
Summary     37
Crimes Against Humanity in International Law
Introduction     39
The Gestation Phase     40
The 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions     40
World War I and the Coining of the Term 'Crimes against Humanity'     43
The Turkish Theatre     43
The German Theatre     44
World War II and the Legal Construction of Crimes against Humanity     46
Crimes against Humanity in the Nuremberg Charter     47
Background to the Charter     47
Condemnations Immediately Preceding the Adoption of the Charter     49
Inhumanity of Acts of Crime against Humanity     53
The Gravity or Seriousness Requirement     53
Scale of the Commission     55
Motives for the Perpetration of Crimes against Humanity     57
Requirement of a Discriminatory Motive     58
Partial Rejection of a Discriminatory Motive     63
Connection to War     64
Justification of the War Connection     65
Decline of the War Connection     67
Criminal Intent or Mens Rea     68
Repertoire of Acts of Crime against humanity     71
Murder Type of Crimes against Humanity     71
Murder and Extermination     71
Enslavement     72
Deportation or Forcible Transfer of Population     72
Imprisonment or Other Severe Deprivation of Physical Liberty     73
Torture     73
Sexual Crimes     74
Other Inhumane or Inhuman Acts     75
Enforced Disappearance of Persons     76
Persecution Type of Crimes against Humanity     76
Persecution     76
The Case of Apartheid     77
Summary     79
Individual Criminal Liability for Crimes Against Humanity
Introduction     81
Legal Sources of Individual Criminal Liability     82
The Nuremberg Charter, Judgements and Principles     84
The Nuremberg Charter as Source of International Obligations     84
Individual Criminal Liability Under the Nuremberg Charter     86
The Progeny of Nuremberg     88
Parameters of Individual Criminal Attribution     91
Participation as Basis of Liability: Extent of Participation     92
Forms of Participation     93
Participation by the Commission of a Crime     93
Participation by Complicity in a Crime     94
Planning     95
Ordering     95
Failure to Prevent or Repress the Commission of a Crime     96
Aiding and/or Abetting      97
Incitement     98
Participation by Attempting to Commit a Crime     100
Negation of Individual Criminal Liability     102
Substantive Grounds for Excluding Criminal Liability     103
Incapacity     103
Intoxication     104
Self-Defence, Defence of Another Person, Defence of Property     104
Duress or Coercion     105
Additional Grounds for excluding Criminal Liability     106
Abandonment     107
Exclusion of Jurisdiction Over Persons Under Eighteen     107
Mistake of Fact or Mistake of Law     108
Superior Orders     109
Other Grounds for Excluding Criminal Liability     109
Necessity     110
Reprisal     110
Summary     111
States Obligations in Respect of Crimes Against Humanity
Introduction     113
Conventional Sources of States' Duties Under International Law     113
International Criminal Law Conventions     114
The Four Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols     114
The Genocide Convention     119
The Torture Convention     120
The Apartheid Convention     121
The Rome Statute      122
General Human Rights Conventions     124
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights     125
The European Convention on Human Rights     127
The American Convention on Human Rights     128
The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights     129
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights     130
Summary     131
Customary Law Sources of States Duties     132
State Practice in Respect of Crimes against Humanity     132
Definition and Content of Practice     132
Whose Practice is Required?     133
Uniformity of Practice     134
Generality of Practice     134
Quantity of Practice     134
Continuity or Duration of Practice     136
Opinio Juris Sive Necessitatis     137
Evaluation     139
Summary     142
Other Sources of States Obligations Under International Law     142
United Nations Resolutions     142
General Assembly Resolutions     143
Security Council Resolutions     146
Reports of International Organisations     147
Decisions of International and National Tribunals     147
Conclusion      148
Amnesty Law in South Africa: Assertion of an Amnesty Exception to the General Prohibition of Crimes Against Humanity
Introduction     151
Political Background to the South African Amnesty     152
Brief History of Apartheid     152
Political Negotiations and Commitment to Amnesty     154
Legal Bases of Amnesty     156
The Indemnity Act of 1990 and the Further Indemnity Act of 1992     156
Amnesty Under the Interim Constitution     158
The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995     159
Scope of Amnesty     161
Effects of Amnesty     163
Effects on the Personal Liability of the Perpetrator     163
Formal and Procedural Effects     163
Challenging the Validity of Amnesty     165
The Amnesty Law Before the Supreme Court     165
The Amnesty Law Before the Constitutional Court     167
Criticism of the South African Amnesty System     172
Limits of the Courts' Decisions on Amnesty     172
Limited Analysis of International Law     173
Departure from the Courts' Previous Interpretation of International Law     175
Limits of the Amnesty Process     177
Powers of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission      177
Definitional Limits     178
Summary     182
International Law and the Rejection of the Amnesty Exception Argument
Introduction     185
Crimes against Humanity as Delicti Jus Gentium     186
The Concept of Delicti Jus Gentium     186
Delicti Jus Gentium and Universal Jurisdiction     189
Values and Interests Protected by the Prohibition of Crimes against Humanity as Delicti Jus Gentium and their Consequences on Amnesty     193
Crimes against Humanity in Conventional International Law and their consequences on Amnesty     193
The Genocide Convention     194
The Torture Convention     195
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court     200
Crimes against Humanity Under Customary International Law and Amnesty     209
Crimes against Humanity as Jus Cogens Offences     213
Doctrine of Jus Cogens     213
Consequences of Jus Cogens Norms     216
Jus Cogens Offences and their Implications on States' Sovereign discretion to Grant Amnesty     218
International Crimes and Permissible Derogations under International Law     221
Derogations Based on 'Public Emergency'     221
Derogations Based on Additional Protocol II     223
Summary      226
General Concluding Assessment and Suggestions
Concluding Assessment     227
Synopsis     227
Comments     229
Suggestions     230
To States     231
To the United Nations     231
To the International criminal Court     232
Bibliography     233
Index     249