Mass Atrocity Crimes

Preventing Future Outrages

Robert I. Rotberg

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2010
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780815745068
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Human Rights
• Index: Politics & International Relations

What can be done to combat genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other crimes against humanity? Why aren't current measures more effective? Is there hope for the future? These and other pressing questions surrounding human security are addressed head-on in this provocative and all-too-timely book.
Millions of people, particularly in Africa, face daily the prospect of death at the hands of state or state-linked forces. Although officially both the United Nations and the African Union have adopted ""Responsibility to Protect"" (R2P) principles, atrocities continue. The tenets of R2P, recently cited in a UN Outcomes Document, make it clear that states have a primary responsibility to protect their citizens from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. When states cannot—or will not—protect their citizens, however, the international community must step into the breach.
Why have efforts to stop horrific state-sanctioned crimes seen only limited success, despite widespread support of R2P? As this enlightening volume explains and illustrates, converting a norm into effective preventive measures remains difficult. The contributors examine the legal framework to inhibit war crimes, use of the emerging R2P norm, the role of the International Criminal Court, and new technologically sophisticated methods to gather early warnings of likely atrocity outbreaks. Together they show how mass atrocities may be anticipated, how they may be prevented, and when necessary, how they may be prosecuted.
Contributors include Claire Applegarth (Harvard Kennedy School), Andrew Block (Harvard Kennedy School), Frank Chalk (Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University), David M. Crane (Syracuse University College of Law), Richard J. Goldstone (Constitutional Court of South Africa; UN International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda), Don Hubert (University of Ottawa; Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect, City University of New York), Sarah Kreps (Cornell University), Dan Kuwali (Malawi Defence Force), Jennifer Leaning (Harvard Francois Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights), Edward C. Luck (Columbia University; International Peace Institute), Sarah Sewall (Harvard Kennedy School)

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Copyright Information
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Deterring Mass Atrocity Crimes: The Cause of Our Era
• Old Crimes, New Paradigms: Preventing Mass Atrocity Crimes
• The Role of the International Criminal Court
• Understanding Crimes against Humanity in West Africa: Giving the People What They Want
• The Responsibility to Protect: Preventing and Halting Crimes against Humanity
• Building a Norm: The Responsibility to Protect Experience
• Acting against Atrocities: A Strategy for Supporters of R2P
• From Prevention to Response: Using Military Force to Oppose Mass Atrocities
• Social Networks and Technology in the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity
• The Use of Patterns in Crisis Mapping to Combat Mass Atrocity Crimes
• Monitoring African Governments' Domestic Media to Predict and Prevent Mass Atrocities: Opportunities and Obstacles
• Contributors
• Index
• Back Cover