Librarians’ Note: This E-Library is maintained by the War Crimes Strategy Forum (WCSF), 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 this 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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Sarkin, J. “The Tension Between Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Politics, Human Rights, Due Process and The Role of the GACCA Courts in Dealing with the Genocide.” Journal of African Law. 45.2 (2001): 143-172.

Abstract: How a society deals with its past has a major determining influence on whether that society will achieve long-term peace and stability. The critical question for such a state is whether or not to prosecute and punish those responsible for past gross human rights abuses. The objectives of policies to deal with past human rights abuses are often to prevent future human rights abuses and to repair the damage that has been caused. The need of victims and the society as a whole to heal from the wounds inflicted upon them by the former regime often has to be balanced against the political reality in which the new government may have limited political power, and in which it may have inherited a fragile state. A new state has to be founded on a commitment to human rights and a dedication to the rule of law. Often, however, the aims of achieving national reconciliation, building unity, reconstructing the institutions necessary for stable political and economic systems, and obtaining the resources necessary to fund the transition are in conflict with dealing with the past.Criminal trials are one way in which the facts of past abuses may be established. The establishment of a truth commission is another. However, either strategy in isolation can have dire consequences.

Lippman, M. “Genocide: The Crime of the Century. The Jurisprudence of Death at the Dawn of the New Millennium.” Hous. J. Int’l L. 23.3 (2000): 467-536.

Abstract: This article traces the international legal response to a century of global genocide. It discusses the concept of genocide and the evolution of if the law of genocide through examples of Eichmann trial, Vietnam war and Yugoslav and Rwandan war.