War crimes dwarf all other forms of offending for many reasons, not the least because there is a war involved in the commission of these crimes. Because there is war the crimes that individuals commit can now be crimes as defined in the Geneva Convention of 1949. ... The leaders in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia all attempted to establish their own state at the expense of minority ethnicities that lived within the same countries. ... (Judah, 2000)
The crimes committed during the war in the former Yugoslavia were fought primarily on the territories of Croatia and Bosnia. ... This crime of murder became a ‘war crime’ when the Republic of Srpska authorized the killing of 8000 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica by the RSK army. ... Many of those involved in these murderous attacks believed that they had been incited or ordered by legitimate authorities so they found it easier to commit crimes and to believe that they had done no wrong. ... (Windrich, Elaine, Revisiting genocide in Rwanda, 1999)
War crimes that were committed in both the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda are formally classified as crimes by the Geneva Convention of 1949, its protocols, the European Convention on Human Rights as well as other international treaties. ... Today we have statutes that outline behavior that is unacceptable for combatants in time of war. ... compelling a prisoner of war or a civilian to serve in the forces of a hostile power;
f. willfully depriving a prisoner of war or a civilian of the rights of fair and regular trial;
g. ... Violations of the laws or customs of war
a. employment of poisonous weapons or other weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering;
b. ... Crimes against humanity. ... other inhumane acts
These statutes and the crimes that are included are the ‘war crimes’ that occurred and were charged in the various indictments in both Tribunals. ... (UN Commission of Experts, Annex II, page 11) In Rwanda President Habyarimana used soldiers, militia and other supporters to attack the civilian population and the soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. (Human Rights Watch 1999)
As these wars continued there was also an increase in the state sponsored crimes other than murder. ... It was used as an instrument of war to the effect that it was a method of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and it was intended to humiliate, shame, and degrade an entire ethnic group. ... During this time Arkan was working for and with the Yugoslav secret police and thus a non-state actor pursing state organized policy of a ‘greater Serbia’ with all Serbs living in one state. (Holbrook, To End a War, p. ... There were many who would not follow the political leadership into what they knew was war, what they felt was wrong and what some proclaimed as being criminal.
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