Military Self-Interest in Accountability for Core International Crimes

Accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide has received increased international attention since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 1993 (‘ICTY’). Internationalized criminal tribunals were subsequently established for Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Iraq and Lebanon, and we have seen high profile war crimes cases against former leaders such as Slobodan Milošević, Saddam Hussein and Charles Taylor. Although there have been some controversies and setbacks, the overall trend since the mid-1990s has been one of increased support for accountability for flagrant violations of international criminal law.