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That part of international law which establishes crimes of international concern, for the breach of which individuals may be held directly responsible. Generally speaking, international law applies between states. To that extent, only states can make claims against each other; this is what is meant by references to a state as enjoying international personality, and as a subject of international law. Correspondingly, individuals are objects of that law, and so cannot assert rights against a state at the international level, nor be sued or prosecuted by a state for the breach of an international obligation. However, some war crimes are a well-recognized exception to this rule. And since the Second World War, crimes against humanity, aggression, and genocide have been added to the content of what has now become known as international criminal law. But the prosecution of individuals charged with the breach of this law has, for a variety of reasons, always presented difficulties, or laid itself open to the charge of ‘victor\'s justice’. For this reason, the Security Council established ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia in 1993 and for Rwanda in 1994. And in 1998 an international conference voted for the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court. |
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