Unlike the more recent Crime Against Humanity, war crimes unfortunately regularly come up in the news. International Court of Justice, Geneva Conventions, with historian François Bédarida or Simone Veil, analyses a concept as old as war itself.
The creation of a permanent tribunal to try war criminals and perpetrators of crimes against humanity was approved in Rome by 120 countries. It will have its seat in The Hague.
The Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation of LYON must rule on the charges against Klaus BARBIE and specify the definition of crimes against humanity that are imprescriptible, unlike war crimes. LEFEVRE (in) recalls these definitions and the question of the judgment of deportations.
François BEDARIDA gives the definition of a war crime. He cites several examples. He adds that he has no precise information about Saddam Hussein: "...if there were massacres of civilians, if babies were taken from their incubators, there is a war crime, it still has to be proven".
Testimony of Simone VEIL, MEP, back from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, on the collective rapes committed by the soldiers of the Serbian federal army on Muslim women. Women from entire villages are raped for the same purpose of ethnic cleansing as massacres. She explains: "Rapes in Zagreb against Muslim women are committed almost systematically. It’s part of the Serbian ethnic cleansing strategy. We have to show how we can destroy the Serbian air force. We may end up in a war situation if we do nothing".
A portrait of Gabrielle KIRK MAC DONALD, the US President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Crimes in the former Yugoslavia. It is overwhelmed and now encounters the intransigence of Serbia, which does not recognize this tribunal. She explains that without the cooperation of the states, she cannot do anything because the court does not have police forces. She goes back to the Pinochet case which could be a case tried by a permanent criminal court.
Interview de l'historien François Bédarida au sujet des crimes de guerre dont pourrait être accusé Saddam Hussein, alors que la guerre du Golfe dure depuis 41 jours. François Bédarida donne la définition d'un crime de guerre et cite plusieurs exemples. Il ajoute qu'il n'a pas d'informations précises en ce qui concerne Saddam Hussein : "...si effectivement il y a eu massacres de civils, si effectivement on a arraché des bébés de leur couveuse, là il y a crime de guerre, encore faut-il que ce soit démontré".