International Crimes and International Criminal Law (Essay Sample)

International Crimes and International Criminal Law
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Introduction
This paper is a literature review in the study of international law. The motive behind this process is uncovering measures in which the international law stipulates and the ways in which states which are party to the body has adopted these laws. There is detailed coverage of the extent to which the law embraced by the different parts binds these parties and the repercussions which befall those in violations of the rules and if there is an existence of instances of impunity. This paper endeavors to cover various measures that are in place along with the institutions that are meant to implement and carry out the necessary steps of each state. There is also an in-depth cover of the evolution of ideas regarding measures and precautions are taken to perform a given stringent measure. The UN is the main governing body relating to the welfare of nations around the world, and its obligation is to act as an oversight authority that oversees the ways in which nations conduct affairs regarding the safeguard all fundamental human rights. The paper also covers the role of the rule of law to the various states and role the legal service and lawyers. There is also a keen observation of the role in which the International Relation and the international law playing interdisciplinary scholarship.
There are various reasons for reviewing the international obligations and governing institution. First, there is an issue concerning the legalistic character in invoking international law for the sake of making morally right judgments and setting policy recommendations. The law must be implicitly morally stringent and must be objective, clear and impartial. Each sphere of the law is presumed to be under a form of codification for it to be relevant and to be invoked, applied, inferred in the inevitable deductive conclusion and the issuance of condemnation. On the other hand, writers are writers must show in their content regarding the field of law the optimality, legality, and morality of the legal topics in which they handle. Morality is that which is right and optimality aiming at reaching the best outcome by taking into consideration all aspects of a given matter.
Since time immemorial, there has been the commission of crimes across the world. However, as the sages go, actions have consequences. These criminal occurrences do not go unpunished in some ways by those in powers or in a position to do so. However, the wording criminal may vary regarding meaning or perception depending on a particular society. In the many 18th and 19th century kingdoms, a king or chief could instruct killing of a person and this was not criminal. Also, those who participated in slave trade did so because it was presumably lawful at that time. The word criminal is relative depending on society or a given period of history.[European Association of Psychology, Law, Psychology, Crime & Law (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2012]
Before the formation of an international body to deal with matters of international peace, the world was man eat man society. The common regulations were what the scholars define as the law of the jungle. As long as a particular country had the capacity to fight and take resources of another weaker country, it could comfortably mobilize its force and attack at will, the way German did to France in 1871. The League of Nations was the first international body to be mandated to be the custodian of an agreed international law which was the first great achievement. The paper will help different scholars, both law students, historians and the general public learn how international crimes are committed, how they look like and the role of the international law in curbing such criminal occurrences. Scholars can refer and enquire more about international law and international criminal law from different writers while at the same time give the researcher a chance to criticize or agree with the ideas propounded.[Topics Entertainment (Firm) the United States and National Archives (U.S.), WWII, War in Europe. Volume I Volume I (Renton, WA: Topics Entertainment, 2008)] [Sean D. Murphy, Principles of International Law (St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West, 2006)]
Mirjan Damaska, the writer of the "what is the point of International Criminal Justice?" holds that international law is practiced and applied in the International Criminal Court. The writer believes that any criminal offense, more so an international crime qualifies to be punished to a grand scale. However, the writer laments that full justice is never and has never been done since the launch of the International Criminal Court and started handling international crimes. The injustice mostly because of inadequate collection and gathering of evidence. The shreds of evidence provided may also be extremely inhumane or extreme which affects the verdict given by the bench handling the matter. The pieces of evidence may disrupt their conscience hence impairs or disrupts the merit of decision and verdict they will deliver. The judges are also forced to work under time constraints which might allow for proper consultation of the relevant law and the consultative verdict. The haste may make them make an immature judgment as a result of less time to analyze evidence provided.[Mirjan R. Damaska, "Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository," What is the Point of International Criminal Justice? 1 (January 2008)]
To some metrics, it is in strongly attested by Mirjan Damaska. For example, in Rwanda where a genocide that killed about a million people took place, it took long to arrest and jail a single suspect. Furthermore, a good number of politicians and perpetrators who participated in the killings and are still free. There was also the distortion of some evidence by some of the accused so as not to be used against them to the extent that the ICC could not use or access it. In Yugoslavia, there was a mass killing of people killed which was sensitive, but the case was not successful at the ICC. If the International law was well applied and is under genuine people, why all these unfairness. Illegal groupings that amount to be called terrorists such as Al-Shabaab and ISIS, AIquaida and Boko Aram have been committing crimes against humanity while international law agents and experts watch. However, the ICC has been toothless enough to capture the perpetrators. The International Criminal Law aims at prevention of illegal activities, but the activities have all been in vain. Human beings will always find themselves committing crimes such a murder and enslavement as long as there are conditions that facilitate such occurrences. There can be a comparison between International law to religion or deception that will promise people better feature while at the same time giving them hope and giving warning to those are intending to commit more crimes that judgment will soon meet them. It spreads the ideology of discipline responsibility and a sense of guilt if one commits the well specified and unambiguous laws as lay down by the international law and the executing body which is the international criminal court. When the law breaker is subjected to the international law, several procedures take place. An accused person goes through judicial activities starting from investigations of the crime to questioning and subjecting him/her to mental stress. Also, intertwinement brings healing to those offended. The offender is also made responsible his carelessness is exposed to the world to see. The process brings fear to other people who might be planning to commit such acts. Such criminals will have to think twice before indulging in a criminal offense of similar caliber.
Also, it is worth taking a look at the internationally agreed meaning of crime and internal criminal law perspective. According to the United Nations, an international crime is any act that violates international law in extremes. These violations may appear in the form of genocides, war crimes which involve breaking war conventions, torture and enforced disappearances, piracy, slavery aircraft hijacking are good examples of international crimes.
On the other side of the coin, the internal criminal law under logical sense is an organized body tailored to deal with actions that are considered international crimes and fix the perpetrators accordingly. These acts range from crimes of aggression to genocides.[Nikos Passas, International Crimes (Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate/Dartmouth, 2013)]
It is of a necessity to take a look at the international laws, to conceptualize its applicability. Firstly, the way in which various legal systems are corresponding to the optimal and moral requirements. Therefore it is a necessity to consider the given statutory applications that might override others. Therefore the legal standpoint is that law should always be having an interpretation in its ordinary sense and the law mostly includes intentional ambiguity. Secondly, on the side of having to conceptualize the increasing interest in the global spectrum, there is the perception that international relation and international law is the inter-subjective or the observed phenomena representing these varied disciplines. The real divergence in the international system is more or less to be normative versus positive and law versus politics. There is the need for the development of genuine theoretical and practical insights. The unity of lawyers around the world can, therefore, bring the needed unity to voice out the need for a collaborative research agenda. Thirdly, the recognition of international law as being applicable to the national societal law is necessary for an effective international legal system. There is a need to bolster recognition of the international rule of law in fabricating ...