Creation of the International Criminal Court System.
International humanitarian law began to emerge in the late nine-tenth century, broadening to embrace a variety of customary and treaty laws governing the conduct of war. Conflicts in Rwanda and the Nuremberg Tribunal have created a dire need for the immediate beginnings of an elongated plan, which has been thought about since the era of Columbus. The first recorded instance of the convening of an international court to address criminal actions was in 1474 by Charles, the Duke of Burgundy. He sought to tackle such crimes as rape, perjury, and murder. For the past fifty years, with the controversy resulting from the Cold War and World War II, the long held ideas of an international criminal court system has been the focal topic of discussion at the United Nations. .
"In the prospect of an international criminal court lies the promise of .
universal justice. That is the simple and soaring hope of this vision.
only then will the innocents of the distant wars and conflicts know that.
they, too, may sleep under the cover of justice; that they, too, have .
rights, and that those who violate those rights will be punished(Rome .
Statute of the International Criminal Court).".
-Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General.
The genocide in Rwanda was one of the worst of the 20th century, with approximately one million people killed during the time period of only three months in the year 1994. "The international community did too little to prevent the genocide, but wanted through establishing the International Tribunal for Rwanda (the Arusha Tribunal), to prosecute the main architects of the genocide and thereby contribute to the revival of peace and reconciliation"(Relief Web). The accused, which numbers over a hundred thousand are in jail awaiting trial for their crimes. .
In October, 1945, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia issued an indictment against twenty-four men and six organizations with the charges of murder and the planning and carrying out of the war in Europe.
