Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice

Before 1990, international law was a dead letter office. Its foundations post-dated a universal church and pre-dated the Enlightenment. The justification of common law is its origin in a time out of mind for "time out of mind" releases jurists from the Godlike role by means of precedent. International law's foundations are shakier, for *jus sovereignis* is the will of dead white males. International law predated the idea that rights flow not from the sovereign but from people and therefore is an intellectual and moral anomaly. Anomalies like American slavery tend to produce disasters, and the anomaly of *jus sovereignis* produced the Balkan disaster, as old-school diplomats seemed compelled to stand idly by.Diplomacy and international law seem to the layperson to be a pleasant affair involving bun-fights, at the better sort of spa. The problem is the Monty-Pythonesque intrusion of reality, as seen by British and Argentine diplomats in 1982, by international economists in Seattle, and in the Balkan mess. No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition, Srebenica, or the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre?except the truly first-rate, like Richard Holbrooke here in the USA or Geoffrey Robertson in Britain.The dyslexic may object that I have been hornswoggled by Holbrooke's and Robertson's purple prose. The problem is that both write well, in this book and in Richard Holbrooke's recount of the long road to the Dayton peace conference of 1995. The problem is that writing well is constituted in a conformance to both moral vision and facts on the ground. The modern international law movement reacts to the recurrence of absolute evil in Europe and Africa in the 1990s, this time unjustified by Communist or free market ideology, and unexplained by Fascist pseudo-ideology.Absolute evil is to the moral imagination the converse of the needs of one's own children to Bertrand Russell. Despite his skeptical precommittments, Lord Russell said that the needs of kids are something that "skepticism does not easily question". Skepticism did not easily process the return, in August 1992, of concentration camps in the former Yugoslavia, and Robertson's response is the deconstruction of absolute national sovereignity. Skepticism dare not question the redress of crime.One objection, mentioned by Robertson, is that international law, other than a purely naturalistic law based on jus sovereignis, is cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism has indeed misapplied norms. But you cannot apply cultural relativism in an absolute way: this is mere self-contradiction.There is also the objection against a natural law as inconsistent with an open society. The problem is that unthinking adherence to a natural law in an open society results in a confused expansion of natural law when we tolerantly seek to reconcile views, as to what the practical implications of natural law might actually be. This resulted in America's "Black Hawk Down" disaster in Mogadishu in which idealism

Geoffrey Robertson is a passionate advocate of human rights - and (possibly paradoxically) of the ability to affect them within the system/s in which we try to enforce them. This book makes no claim to be a perfect history, but knowing Robertson's experience, we are better to hear his opinion and understanding than a dry history of the progress of human rights law itself. If you love this book, good. If you hate it, good. The idea is to make you think about it... and that is what Robertson is best at. This may be the only law history book you will ever read which will make you laugh and cry - occasionally at the same time. I read some other reviews of this and am saddened at their negativity - Robertson has personal experience most "experts" never have, and combines that with a wicked wit, enormous intelligence and a humanitarian heart. This is some book, and Geoffrey Robertson is some man - read whatever you can of his.

Geoffrey Robertson's "Crimes Against Humanity" is a thoughtful and thorough analysis of modern attempts at global justice. I have struggled with this issue for some time and have found most books of little help, perhaps because the amount of material to be digested is so substantial. Robertson does an excellent job of assembling, organizing, and presenting an extremely complex body of knowledge. There are many books on individual topics covered here and some readers would no doubt like their pet topics to have been discussed in more detail. The beauty of the book, however, is not in its detailed coverage of any single issue, but in it ability to integrate a large number of topics (e.g., the Lieber Code, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,The Geneva Conventions, Nuremberg, Truth Commissions, International Criminal Court, etc.). The author is able to show how these various issues are connected in a string of advances toward a global system of human rights -- advances that are admittedly glacial in their pace but advances nonetheless. Anyone who has tried to organize this vast body of knowledge can appreciate what Robertson has accomplshed. A fine companion to this book is Samantha Power's book "A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide." Taken together, these two books will take the reader a long way toward understanding international efforts at global justice.

Geoffrey has done a very good job of adding to the debate on the role of Human Rights in today's globalising international society. His study covers the beginnings of the Human rights crusade with the birth of the UN and continues its evolution to the bloody fields of Kosovo. At its best, Crimes against Humanity is a cleverly argued case for the rule of law in international relations. The dry humour in relation to many of the unpublicised aspects of UN human rights activities is also a welcome highlight. Where it understandibly gets bogged down are the sections where he sorts, in detail, the various statues that underly the human rights facilities employed by the UN and various other bodies. Despite his pleadings at the start of the book, its is not simplified enough. Perhaps this is more of a reflection on international law than the book, but the criticism stands. An effort worthy of Praise in an area that requires more books like this to educate a sometimes apathetic public.

Geoffrey Robertson has written many books that demonstrate how often minorities are prosecuted by governments and individuals who only want a result, not justice. Crimes Against Humanity tells of the people who have been mindlessly persecuted and had their basic human rights abused by fascist leaders. it tells of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet; the ruthless leader of chile. and the war crimes of the balkans. such a knowledgable man who has conducted missions for amnesty international and has been a leading QC for many years. this is his most recent book and i found it quote enjoyable, and he hosted the show Geoffrey Robertson's Hypotheticals in the late 80's and late 90's. the only discrepency i have is that he doesn't mention if he appeared in any of the cases in Crimes Against Humanity. apart from that i found it a very enjoyable book that i couldn't p ut down until i had finished it.