Table of Contents

PART I: SUBSTANTIVE LAW
1: Individual Accountability for Human Rights Abuses: Historical and Legal Underpinnings
2: Genocide and the Imperfections of Codification
3: Crimes Against Humanity and the Inexactitude of Custom
4: War Crimes and the Limitations of Accountability for Acts in Armed Conflict
5: Other Abuses Incurring Individual Responsibility under International Law
6: Expanding and Contracting Culpability: Complicity, Defenses, and Other Barriers to Criminality
PART II: MECHANISMS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
7: Mechanisms for Accountability: Framing the Issues
8: The Forum of First Resort: National Tribunals
9: The Progeny of Nuremberg: International Criminal Tribunals
10: Non-Prosecutorial Options: Investigatory Comissions, Civil Suits, Immigration Measures, and Lustration
11: Developing the Case: Comments on Evidence and Judicial Assistance
PART III: A CASE STUDY: THE ATTROCITIES OF THE KHMER ROUGE
12: The Khmer Rouge Rule over Cambodia: A Historical Overview
13: Applying the Law
14: Engaging the Mechanisms
PART IV: CONCLUSIONS
15: Striving for Justice: The Prospects for Individual Accountability
Appendices

About the Author

Steven R. Ratner is Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He was previously the Albert Sidney Burleson Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law (Austin) and an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department. Jason S. Abrams is a consultant to the United Nations. He has served as Legal Officer, Policy Coordination Officer and Consultant to the United Nations. His work has included private
international matters involving UN Headquarters and Peacekeeping Missions, landmines, and management reform initiatives. Earlier in his career, Mr. Abrams was an Attorney-Adviser for the U.S. Department of
State.
James L. Bischoff is an Attourney-Advisor in the Office of the Legal Advisor of the United Nations Department of State. He previously worked as an Associate Legal Officer at the ICTY and served on the Secretariat of the standing committee charged with proposing amendments to the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

Reviews

`Review from previous edition Ratner and Abrams provide an incisive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive look at the substantive law and legal institutions that inhabit the intersection of international human rights law. The need to hold individuals responsible for abuses of human dignity in war and peace has lately assumed critical importance for the global community. This volume, with its searching appraisal of contemporary doctrinal issues as well as the
promises and pitfalls of mechanisms for accountability, is a timely and essential resource for any scholar or practitioner with an interest in these areas of international law.'
Richard J. Goldstone
`a timely and highly valuable contribution to the emerging literature on the subject ... an outstanding book that is concise and accessible to a broad audience, yet comprehensive and scholarly ... This excellent book provides a thoroughly researched and eloquently written survey of the legal and policy framework within which these and other complex issues may be examined. It combines scholarly erudition with a practical sense and thus provides a valuable
instrument for the pursuit of international justice. It is indispensable reading for students, practitioners, scholars and others interested in accountability for gross human rights abuses.'
Payam Akhavan, The American Journal of International Law (Vol 93)
`The authors' analysis of the technical points are illuminating and their case study of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge makes the work all the more compelling.'
Democracy & Development - Journal of West African Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 1,
`The breadth of research that has gone into producing this work is plain on every page...What for me is remarkable is that a work of such academic pedigree and intellectual excellence should be such an eminently readable review of all aspects of individual criminal responsibility and international criminal law past, present and potential.'
Lord Bonomy, Senator of the College of Justice