Seeking Accountability for the Unlawful Use of Force

Leila Nadya Sadat is the James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law at Washington University Law and Director of the Harris World Law Institute. Since 2012 she has served as Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the ICC Prosecutor, and in 2008 launched the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative to address the scourge of global atrocity crimes and draft a treaty on their punishment and prevention. Sadat is an award-winning scholar who recently received an Honorary Doctorate from Northwestern University, Illinois, and the Arthur Holly Compton Faculty Achievement Award. She is incoming President of the International Law Association (American Branch) and a member of the US Council on Foreign Relations.

• Biographies of contributors; Foreword Sir Geoffrey Robertson; Preface Leila Nadya Sadat; Introduction Donald M. Ferencz; Part I. Historic and Contemporary Perspectives on the Unlawful Use of Force: 1. The status of aggression in international law from Versailles to Kampala – and what the future might hold M. Cherif Bassiouni; 2. Nuremberg and aggressive war William A. Schabas; 3. The Tokyo IMT and crimes against peace (aggression) – is there anything to learn? Robert Cryer; 4. The just war in ancient legal thought Larry May; 5. Definitions of aggression as harbingers of international change Kirsten E. Sellars; 6. International humanitarian law in an age of extremes: unlawful uses of force by non-state actors David M. Crane; Part II. Mechanisms for Restraining the Unlawful Use of Force and Enhancing Accountability: 7. Commissions of inquiry and the Jus ad Bellum Larissa van den Herik and Catherine Harwood; 8. The international court of justice and the use of force Douglas J. Pivnichny; 9. The other enemy: transnational terrorists, armed attacks and armed conflict Carrie McDougall; 10. Towards the substantive convergence of international human rights law and the laws of armed conflict – the case of Hassan v. the United Kingdom Robin Geiß; 11. International law on the use of force: current challenges Sergey Sayapin; Part III. The Illegal Use of Force and the Prosecution of International Crimes: 12. The crime of aggression under customary international law Yoram Dinstein; 13. The crime of aggression and the international criminal court Jennifer Trahan; 14. Prosecuting aggression through other universal core crimes at the International Criminal Court Terje Einarsen; 15. The illegal use of armed force (other inhumane act) as a crime against humanity: an assessment of the case for a new crime at the International Criminal Court Manuel J. Ventura; 16. Aggression, atrocities, and accountability: building a case in Iraq John Hagan and Anna Hanson; Part IV. Imagining a Better World: 17. Rethinking the relationship between Jus in Bello and Jus ad Bellum: a dialogue between authors Federica D'Alessandra and Robert Heinsch; 18. Twenty-first-century paradigms on military force for humane purposes David J. Scheffer and Angela Walker; 19. The presumption of peace: illegal war, human rights, and humanitarian law Mary Ellen O'Connell; 20. The urgent imperative of peace Leila Nadya Sadat; Epilogue Benjamin B. Ferencz; Index.

'As we approach the third decade of the twenty-first century, wars continue to take their toll on untold numbers of innocent civilians; launching a nuclear war has become a topic of serious discussion; and from July 2018 the crime of aggression will fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. It is hardly surprising that the global community continues its search for legal means to deter the resort to war, aggression and the commission of massive war crimes. Seeking Accountability for the Unlawful Use of Force, edited by Professor Leila Sadat, could not be more timely or important. It contains thoughtful and accessible essays by some of the leading experts in the field of international criminal law. They trace its modern history and consider the future of mechanisms of accountability for war crimes. This excellent collection is essential reading for all interested in the relationship between law and war.' Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda