Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW
in regard to holding perpetrators responsible for their commission of genocidal crimes and
crimes against humanity. Who, for example, among the perpetrators of the Bangladeshi,
Cambodian, and Kurdish genocides were ever held responsible? Even with the establishment
of the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the
International Criminal Court for Rwanda (ICTR) and their numerous trials and convictions,
many of the main fomenters of hate and perpetrators of genocidal actions in, for
example, the former Yugoslavia are still free (e.g., Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic,
being two of the most noteworthy). It has taken the international community over
twenty-five years to bring the Khmer Rouge (KR) to trial (trials might commence sometime
in late 2007), and as a result many of the leaders of the KR have already died. Many
in the international community hope that with the recent establishment of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) the culture of impunity will slowly but surely dissolve. It is
noteworthy that a major goal in establishing the ICC was to put an end to such impunity.
In fact, the Rome Statute’s preamble states, in part, that the international community is
“determined to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes” (meaning, in
part, crimes against humanity and genocide).
CUSHRID Net. CUSHRID (an acronym for Canada-U.S. Human Rights Information
and Documentation) Net was established in 1994 by Human Rights Information and
Documentation Systems International (HURIDOCS), Amnesty International USA,
Amnesty International Canada, and the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS). The various purposes of the organization are as follows: facilitate the
exchange of ideas and information between human rights organizations; establish uniform
standards for human right documentation, information management, and information
exchange; develop cooperative projects in the areas of documentation and information
management to avoid duplication; provide training in various aspects of documentation
and information management; and maintain contacts with information and documentation
networks in other parts of the world.
Customary International Law. Customary international law refers to international laws
that have evolved out of the constant and consistent practice of states and constitutes a set
of conventions, patterns of behavior, and established norms considered binding on a community.
Although such forms of conduct, rooted in customary routines, are not founded on
legislation, they nevertheless can establish a basis for judicial decision making. In international
law, the regulation of relations between states was, for many centuries, based on customary
forms, some of which evolved from more formal treaties. The best known of these
was the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which established and codified the modern states
system that still prevails today. Yet, although customary laws in the international sphere
can emerge out of previously negotiated treaties, it is just as accurate to say that often the
opposite is also the case: formal international agreements, when contracted, are often based
on long-held practices or restraints that have always prevailed but never been enacted.
Thus, for example, atrocities such as crimes against humanity and genocide were not legislated
in international law until the twentieth century, though the kinds of actions that
are defined therein were traditionally not permitted in the relationships between nations
(particularly in the Western tradition) as acceptable forms of conduct. The norms of customary
international law thus derive their authority from their universal acceptance.
Formal international law, usually established through treaties or signed international
conventions, differs from customary international law in that the former embodies specific
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