Librarians’ Note: This E-Library is maintained by the International Crimes Strategy Forum (ICSF), a strategic coalition of activists and organisations sharing the common goal of assisting the prosecution of war criminals of Bangladesh 1971. Only the members registered to E-Library site will enjoy FULL-TEXT download-access to the entries. It is advised that you open your free-account today by clicking the Registration link. To be able to download full-text of the items stored on this library, or to add new items, you will need additional user-rights which can be requested from the Library-Admin at the Feedback-Address. You are also welcome to suggest new records to the library database. We hope the resources made available on this site will facilitate serious research of high standard on issues relating to the Liberation War of Bangladesh and the prosecution of war criminals.

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Sailer, Christian and Hetzel, Gert-Joachim. Criminal Charges Against Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Grounds of Crimes Against Humanity According to Art. 7 ICC Statute., 2011.

Abstract: The charges are directed against three worldwide crimes, which until now have not been denounced merely because they stemmed from an institution headed by the “highest dignitaries,” who appear to be far above criminal acts. The traditional reverence toward “ecclesiastical authority” has clouded the sense of right and wrong.

How Pakistan Violated Human Rights in Bangladesh: Some Testimonies, 1972, Indian Council for World Affairs

Abstract: The Indian Council of World Affairs has compiled these accounts, as samples of what man can do to man, a quarter of a century after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the emergence of the United Nations as an instrument to ensure ever-lasting peace. These pages speak of only one peace- the peace of the grave. This book comes with fore words by Andre Malraux and provides account of atrocities committed by the Pakistani forces in Bangladesh

Badar, Mohamed Elewa. “From the Nuremberg Charter to the Rome Statute: Defining the Elements of Crimes Against Humanity.” San Diego International Law Journal. 5 (2004): 73-144.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the past and present contours of the prohibition of “crimes against humanity”, analyzing and scrutinizing the essential elements of this crime, with a view to obtaining and drawing together basic criteria that could eventually guide the adjudication of this offence. Furthermore, this clarification of “crimes against humanity” is particularly timely with respect to the soon functioning International Criminal Court (ICC).

Islam, M Rafiqul. “Secessionist Self-Determination: Some Lessons from Katanga, Biafra and Bangladesh.” Journal of Peace Research. 22.3 (1985).

Abstract: The existing world order is frequently interrupted by secessionist claims. The present state-oriented solidarity for ’territorial integrity under all circumstances at any cost’ has not succeeded in solving the problem. It has now become imperative for the international community to formulate principles and guidelines to cope with this problem. This paper examines three of the major separatist attempts since the Second World War and the way the rest of the world community reacted to them. The failure of Katanga and Biafra secessions and the success of the Bangladesh one were not isolated incidents. Rather these are probably normative for future claims in the sense that some lessons worthy of imitation may be derived from these experiences. Whilst the right to secession was denied in case of Katanga and Biafra, the Bangladesh situation indicates that the world community is willing to recognise a limited and orderly right to secession as the ultimate remedy under certain circumstances, particularly in extreme cases of the abuse and misuse of territorial integrity. Several factors distinguish the Bangladesh situation from the other two cases. In addition to a comparative study of these factors the paper develops certain common and influential criteria which the world community may increasingly recognise in responding to a future secessionist claim. This would in turn assist the international community in its concern for the establishment of a legal order to deal with post-colonial self-determination claims

Islam, M Rafiqul. “Secession Crisis in Papua New Guinea: The Proclaimed Republic of Bougainville in International Law.” U Haw L rev. 13 (1991).

Abstract: This paper examines the international legal status of the secession of Bougainvillle through the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). It reveals that international law does not prevent the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) from proclaiming their UDI as a revolutionary act. Nor does international law forbid the national government of Papua New Guinea from suppressing the UDI of it can. International law simply accepts the outcome of the conflict that emanated from the UDI of Bougainville, which, if successful, will acquire legitimacy and recognition

Jamal, Ahmed Abdullah. “Mukti Bahini and the Liberation War of Bangladesh: A Review of Conflicting Views.” Asian Affairs. 30.4 (2008): 5-17.

Abstract: This paper tries to introduce the conflicting views and revisit the actual role played by the freedom fighters of Bangladesh in liberating their country. The article has been written on the basis of analysis and assessments made mostly by people who were involved in the war, either in the battlefields or as researcher, or both. Pakistani and Indian views have been taken from the writings of their respective military commanders, while those views have been substantiated or negated by quoting Mukti Bahini sources. Though all the views quoted in the article have arguably been influenced by the personal as well as collective interests of the concerned authors, one can identify such limitations and see the true state of affairs through a variety of different interpretations and assumptions.

Martin, Bridgette. “Secession and Statehood: The International Legal Status of Kosovo.” Bachelor’s thesis, 2008.

Abstract: This dissertation talks about the secession and analyses related international law and uncertainties associated with the secession process.

Roth, Brad. “Secessions, Coups, and the International Rule of Law: Assessing the Decline of the Effective Control Doctrine.” Wayne State University Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series (2011).

Abstract: Attempted secessions (for example, Kosovo and Somaliland) and coups d’état (for example, Madagascar and Honduras in 2009) prompt contestation over whether or not legal status is to be conferred on local exercises of de facto authority. International legal standing has traditionally been established by victory in a trial by ordeal: a region initially integral to an existing state successfully establishes itself as an independent sovereign unit only where its secession movement creates — usually by decisive victory in an armed struggle — facts on the ground that appear irreversible; an insurgent faction successfully establishes itself as a government where it overthrows an existing constitutional structure and secures — even if at bayonet-point —widespread popular acquiescence. Insofar as it is perceived as little more than an imprimatur for ‘might makes right’ at the local level, this ‘effective control doctrine’ is manifestly offensive to a rule-of-law sensibility. Notwithstanding the international order’s disposition to defer to the outcome of internal conflicts, alternative solutions are available where a state manifestly fails to embody the self-determination of the entirety of the territorial population, or where a government manifestly fails to represent the political community that the state encompasses. These alternative solutions, however, far from generating new generally applicable doctrines, tend ineluctably to have an ad hoc character.