THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS IN ARMED CONFLICT AS WAR CRIME UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

Chapter Two 2.0. EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN AND WAR CRIMES

Children constitute the most vulnerable members of the society but, the concept that children have specific rights deserving of enforcement and protection is a comparatively modern development. Concern for the protection of the dignity, equality and basic human rights of children have since come to the forefront of public consciousness subsequent to the various reform movements of the 19th century. Children are now a constituency in their own right on whose behave, laws have been made, and are being made for their protection against the abuse of parents, other adults, social neglect and economic exploitation.

Children face various problems of neglect, maltreatment, exploitation and abuse due to their tender ages, immaturity and dependence on adults. These problems revolve round welfare, food, health, shelter, education and other necessaries for their proper growth and development. This sorry state of affairs however takes on a more terrible dimension during armed conflicts. Armed conflicts are as old as man but the use of children as active participants in such conflicts either as combatants or non-combatants is a relatively new and scary dimension found across conflict zones of the world. This pathetic situation is caused by the adult-older generation, without regard to the effectsof their actions on the innocent-younger generation.

2.1. CHILD ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION

A happy and healthy child with a sound mind, body and spirit is an asset to the society. But unfortunately in this ever changing world of ours, so many children are denied attainment of this fundamental state due to one form of child abuse or the other. According to Gil, child abuse and exploitation is any act of commission or omission by individuals, institutions or society as a whole, and any conditions resulting from such acts or inaction, which deprive children of equal rights and liberties, and/or interfere with their optimal development, while to Dr. Alan Gilmour, it occurs when any avoidable act, or avoidable failure to act, adversely affects the physical, mental or emotional wellbeing of a child.[1]

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (Art.32) recognizes“the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development”. This is echoed by the Child Rights Act [S.28(a)]which states inter aliathat no child shall be subjected to any forced or exploitative labour. While the Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary however, simply defines child abuse and exploitation as, the crime of harming a child in a physical, sexual or emotional way.

Child abuse and exploitation therefore takes many forms, amongst which are:

(a). CHILD LABOUR

This is the employment of children and ILO estimates that around 250 million children worldwide, aged between 5-14 years old are working part-time or on a full-time basis.[2]Children can be engaged to work in several ways such as, scavengers in the streets to sort out useable materials in rubbish dumps. This can be dangerous to their health because of toxic chemicals, radiation, and injuries from scrap metals. Children may also be employed as miners in underground mines which can lead to dangerous health conditions, injuries and death. Domestic workers, bus conductors and child porters also come under this category. See S.28 & 29 of CRA & S.22, TPA.

(b). STREET TRADING

This refers to the hawking of petty goods and services on the streets of both urban and rural areas by children. This may involve the selling of items to motorists stuck in traffic jams (‘go-slows’) with the attendant hazards.[3]Young children are mandated by their family members and at times on their own free will, to sell petty goods to supplement the family income, at the detriment of their education, youth and overall development. See S. 30&33, CRA.

(c). STREET BEGGING

In some parts of Nigeria, there is in operation the “Almajiri System”, in which young children are left to roam the streets. These children were mostly entrusted to Islamic teachers who in turn, rather than care for them, send them out to ‘beg’ and do menial jobs. These children are expected to bring back part of the proceeds of their activities to such teachers.4 Children also ‘beg’ on behalf of themselves or could be engaged in leading other blind or handicapped adult beggars. See S. 30, CRA.

(d). APPRENTICES

This is where children are contracted to an employer for a period to learn a trade, handicraft or skill. The employer is paid a fee by the child’s parent or guardian for the “training” he impacts. There are no legal regulations governing the apprenticeship and very often, the effectiveness of the training provided depends on the goodwill of the “master” and the facility of the apprentice.[4]

(e). MARKET TRADE6

This is trading in market areas, which may be ‘open air’ or enclosed. The traders are confined to their stalls for which they pay a fee to the local authority. Most stalls are owned and manned by adults while children act as assistants.

(f). FOOD SELLERS (BUKA)

This is a local roadside restaurant under a tree, an umbrella or some shanty structure. The food is either cooked and transported from another place or is cooked nearby on an open fireplace. This is common in Nigeria and, the business is usually owned by adult(s) with children serving primarily as assistant(s).7

(g). BONDED LABOUR

Many children are trapped in one form of slavery or the other in many parts of the world. This is a form of debt bondage or debt repayment and, it refers to a situation where a feudal labourer (or his children) is bound to work for someone due to a debt or service owned, mostly indefinitely. Sometimes children are sold for a sum of money out rightly and, it may take the form of an advance payment of a certain sum to rural families in order to take their children away to work somewhere. But the most common is where impoverished parents surrender their children to outsiders simply to work in exchange for their up-keep because they feel the children will have a better life than with them.[5]See S. 28; 29 & 33 CRA.

(h).CHILD PROSTITUTION

Commercial sexual exploitation is a contemporary form of slavery involving millions of children all over the world. Child prostitution connotes the sexual exploitation and engagement of children for cash or any other form of consideration, usually but not always, organized through an intermediary. Such acts and activities include offering, obtaining, procuring or providing a child for sexual activity in exchange for a form of consideration, usually cash. A corollary of child prostitution is “child sex tourism”, in which people travel or are encouraged to travel to a place in order to get sex and/or view sexual acts.

(i). CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Child pornography and/or pornographic performances is the producing,

distributing, disseminating, importing, export, offering, selling or possessing any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child, the dominant characteristics of which is depiction for a sexual purpose. Millions of children worldwide are unfortunately trapped in this terrible and illicit activity controlled by organized gangs. See S. 2, CYPA (Harmful Publications), Lagos State, 2004.

(j). CHILD SOLDIERS

Due to the changing nature of armed conflicts, a noticeable and scary dimension of child soldiering has emerged. Thus, young children who should be enjoying their childhood are forcefully thrust into armed conflicts as active participants, with the resultant injuries, deaths, traumas and other negative societal effects. These young children are made to partake and witness the commission of various heinous atrocities and, invariably turning them in the process into killers and cannibals. See S. 34, CRA.

(k). SEXUAL ABUSE

Young children mostly girls, are forced into sexual activities by adults and, this is mostly done by their family members or people known to such children. The coercion of a child into such sexual activity could be through use or threat of violence, deceit or inducement and, the child is usually unable or cannot give an informed consent to such an act. See S. 31 & 32, CRA.

(l). CHILD MARRIAGE

In some countries and cultures, many child marriages do take place. It is unfortunate that many young girls are forced into marriage relationships, even with men far too old for them, with the resultant sexual activities and responsibilities of marriage. See S. 21-23, CRA.

(m). CHILD PREGNANCY

An inevitable corollary of child sexual abuse and child marriage is child pregnancy. It is very sad to see children carrying pregnancies and giving birth. Children, who are themselves not yet matured and developed enough, are forced to go through such rigors of life. Apart from preventing children from been educated, it is obvious that such early sexual activities are harmful to children as witnessed by the phenomenon of “vesico vaginal fistula” (VVF)[6]amongst other health hazards. See S. 21-23, CRA.

(n). CHILD MUTILATION

This connotes “female genital mutilation”, which is the practice in some cultures of female circumcision, excision, infibulations or mutilating of the female genitals under the illusion that it prevents the female-child from being prone to sexual inclinations. This has been found to be inaccurate and very harmful to the female-child. Child mutilation could also be construed to refer to the practice especially, during armed conflicts of “mutilating parts” of the bodies of children of the enemies. This heinous act is done in order to prevent such children from later on carrying arms against their attackers.

(o). STREET CHILDREN

This refers to many children worldwide who due to a variety of reasons and, in order to survive are forced to eat, live and sleep on the streets. In Nigeria, there are a large number of young children living in motor parks, market places, petrol stations, railway stations or on the streets begging for alms or just wandering around the streets.[7]Majority of these children have neither homes nor families to go back to at the end of the day. These children are exposed to all kinds of morally bankrupt people and very often, engage in truancy and delinquent acts such as cheating, lying, stealing, drug abuse and prostitution. In many countries, street children are vulnerable to extra-judicial killings by the police, criminal gangs and vigilantes. Many children have been tortured or “disappeared” after detention by the security forces and armed opposition groups.[8]

(p). PHYSICAL ABUSE

This may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. This could be deliberate or otherwise and, may include corporal punishment. Such punishment in order not to be physical abuse must not result in the infliction of a wound or any grievous harm on the child. No correction is justified which is unreasonable in kind or in degree, taking into account the age, physical and mental condition of the child on whom it is inflicted.

(q). EMOTIONAL ABUSE

This involves the persistent emotional ill-treatment of a child which leads to severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless, unloved or inadequate and, this may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. It may involve causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of ill-treatment of a child, though this may occur independently.[9]

(r).CHILD NEGLECT

This involves the persistent or severe failure to meet or provide a child’s physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. It may involve a parent or guardian failing or neglecting to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failure to protect a child from physical harm or danger, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs.[10]

(s).CHILD TRAFFICKING

This refers to the trafficking in children for the purposes of providing child labour in the homes of alleged ‘guardians’, some of whom may even be extended family members.[11]The sale of children also extends to the transfer of children’s organs, their forced labour or improperly inducing parental consent to a child’s adoption.[12]Child trafficking is in most cases, carried out by organized gangs with worldwide connections. Among the acts and activities related to the sale of children, is the offering, delivering or accepting by whatever means, a child for the purposes of engaging such a child in forced labour. See S. 11-15, TPA.

(t). DRUG ABUSE

This is the illicit use of narcotic drugs and ‘hard’ substances, and the use of children in the production, refining or trafficking of such hard drugs. The use of such hard drugs by children is mostly facilitated through the connivance and encouragement of adults because of the economic benefits they derive from it. Rising rates of drug abuse by children and young people is threatening child development, national economic prosperity and social order. Parents dependent on drugs may have babies with physical, mental or drug addiction problems.

(u). SOCIAL EXPLOITATION

The term is used in this context to connote some other forms of ‘exploitation’ of the child. For example, “Gifted Children”, that is, children with talents in competitive sports, games and the performing arts, can have these talents developed by their families, the media, businesses and state authorities at the expense of their overall physical and mental development.[13]Children can also be exploited by the “Media”, for example, by identifying child victims or child offenders, or by securing performances by children without their informed consent which are potentially harmful to them.

“Research and Experimentation”, like the recent Pfizer Plc failed drug experimentation in Kano State, Nigeria, which resulted in the deformity and death of many children (the case has since been settled out of court). This can breach their privacy, and/or require them to undertake tasks disrespectful to their rights and dignity, and could lead to death of innocent children. Denying children those aspects of their development, child abuse and exploitation is often a critical link in the cycle of deprivation and disadvantage that feeds other abuses. Children can find themselves trapped in a cycle of poverty, illiteracy, unskilled, prone to

crime, violence and death.[14]

2.2. NATURE AND CONCEPT OF CRIMES

Although States at peace have shown themselves quite capable of committing gross abuses of human rights; the hatred, tension and upheaval inherent in armed conflicts, creates a fertile ground for horrendous attacks on the dignity of the individual.[15]It is common knowledge that not all illegal acts nor all legal wrongs are crimes and punished as such; neither can all civil wrongs be remedied by mere adjudication between the individuals concerned. The difficulty experienced by many writers on the English Common Law has been to give a definition of “crime”[16]which will not only be descriptive of what is meant, but will at the same time exclude other wrongs.Many eminent writers have sought with varying results to postulate such a definition. But as stated by Chukkol, it is often a difficult and an elusive task to give a concise and apt definition of most legal terms..[17]The difficulty of enunciating a satisfactory definition of “crime” under the Common Law is however, not usually experienced under a codified system of criminal law where the code itself usually defines the word.

The Nigerian criminal law is completely codified with perhaps minor exception(s). The two codes containing the bulk of the law are the Criminal Code Act which applies to Southern Nigeria, and the Penal Code Law which applies to Northern Nigeria. These codes do not define “crime” but “offence”, which for our purpose may be taken as meaning the same thing. The Criminal Code (S. 2) states that “an act or omission which renders the person doing the act or making the omission liable to punishment under this Code or under any Order-in-Council, Act or Law or Statute, is called an offence”. The Penal Code simply states that “except where otherwise appears from the context, the word “offence” includes an offence under any law for the time being in force”.

According to this definition, an offence is what a particular law says is an offence.[18]Thus, a crime in a broad sense is an act which violates a political or moral law, while it can be construed in the narrow sense, as a violation of the criminal law. A crime can be the action of violating or breaking the law.According to western jurisprudence, there must be a simultaneous concurrence of both actusreus (guilty action) and mensrea (guilty mind) for a crime to have been committed; except in crimes of strict liability. Crimes are therefore viewed as offences against the society and as such, punishable by the state even though in many cases crimes are a violation of individual rights.[19]

2.2.(i). INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES

With respect to criminality, the evolution of international humanitarian law has resulted in the identification of certain acts as crimes - “war crimes”- even when those acts might not create individual culpability under international law during times of peace. Also, the existence of a separate corpus of war crimes in no way diminishes the pertinence of norms concerning genocide, crimes against humanity, and other independent crimes, for they apply both in times of peace and during armed conflicts.[20]We shall try to provide an explanation of the concept of “war crimes” rather than give a definite definition of the term, because the term refers to a variety of different transgressions.

War crimes are the violation of national and international laws and customs regarding the resort to armed conflict, the conduct of armed conflicts, and other activities associated with armed conflicts. War crimes are violations of established protections of the laws of wars, failure to adhere to norms of procedure and rules of battle. These laws are fundamental to a civilized world, and are designed to protect human beings from the barbarity of war. These laws prohibit war except in the narrowest of circumstances; they severely restrict who can be killed, the appropriate targets, and the types of weapons that can be used.

An indicia of a civilized country is adherence to these laws, not only by pious words but through actions. To disobey these laws is to become “hosteshumani generis”- an enemy of all mankind. In days past “enemies of all mankind” were slave traders and pirates who could be brought to justice wherever found. Such enemies include those countries and individuals who violate the fundamental laws that enhance peace and limit war.[21]War crimes are violations by a country and/or its officials and citizens - civilians or military personnel of the laws of wars. These laws are laid down by international custom, certain treaties and international tribunals. These laws have arisen over hundreds, if not thousands of years and, all countries and their citizens must obey such laws.[22]

Similar concepts have existed for many centuries as customary law between countries and many of these laws were clarified in the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. The modern concept of war crimes was further developed under the auspices of the Nuremberg Trials based on the definition in the London Charterof August 8, 1945. Along with war crimes, the Charter also defined crimes against peace and crimes against humanity, which are often committed during wars and in concert with war crimes.Article 22 of The Hague IV (Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land; October 18, 1907) states that,“the right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited” and, over the last century many other treaties have introduced positive laws that place constraints on belligerents. Some of these provisions such as those in The Hague Conventions, are considered to be part of customary international law, and are binding on all.[23]

The international society began to codify the laws of war in the 19th and early 20th centuries as weapons grew more destructive and industrialized warfare began to blur the lines between combatants and non-combatants. The Geneva Convention (1864) adoptedagreements to protect wounded soldiers; The Hague Peace Conferences (1899, 1907) prohibited the use of certain weapons; subsequent Geneva Conventions in 1906, 1929 and 1949 expanded the laws of war as they applied to civilians, prisoners of wars, sick and wounded military personnel.[24] After World War I, in 1919, the Victorious Allies created a Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties. Article 227 of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919 arraigned the former German Emperor, Wilhelm II, “for a supreme offence against international morality and the sanctity of treaties”, and provided for his trial by a Special Allied Court. But since Wilhelm had abdicated and fled to neutral Netherlands which refused to surrender him, the trial never took place. The Allied action of holding individuals accountable to an international body set an important precedent.[25]

During World War II, the barbarities perpetrated by the Nazis led the Allies in the Declaration of Moscow (1943) to assert that those responsible for the atrocities committed during the war would be tried and punished. In August

1944, the Allies signed the London Agreement establishing an International Military Tribunal to try accused Axis war criminals not only for conventional war crimes, such as brutal treatment of POWs, but also for waging aggressive war and committing crimes against peace and against humanity.[26]There was general determination that those responsible should be brought to justice and that any future atrocities should also be punished.[27]Since the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials of 1945-48, it has been accepted in international law that there are at least three categories of war crimes and these are; Crimes against Peace; Crimes against the Laws and Customs of War; and Crimes against Humanity.

2.2.(i).(a). CRIMES AGAINST PEACE

The August 1945 Charter for the Nuremberg Tribunal (Art.6) defined the three categories of crimes. Crimes against peace were defined as “planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing”. Crimes against peace were difficult to prove, and the attempt to do so was thought by some to be an example of retroactive legislation. Nevertheless, with the Kellog-Briand Pact of 1928 and other treaties and resolutions, there were sufficient grounds to try acts of aggression as infringements of international law.[28] General Hideki Tojo, the Japanese Prime Minister in 1941-44, was charged after World War II with this war crime during the Tokyo Trials of 1946-48.

2.2.(i).(b). CRIMES AGAINST THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR

Crimes against the laws of war were defined in the Nuremberg Tribunal Charter as “murder, ill-treatment, or deportation to some labour or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity”. It was accepted that violations of the laws ofwar could include the use of banned weapons or the misuse or deceptive use of flags of surrender, which were not explicitly mentioned in the Charter but were covered elsewhere. Given that there was already a body of laws particularly the Geneva and Hague Conventions, against which the conduct of combatants could be tested, the prosecutions of violations of the laws of wars were in many respects the least contentious aspects of the war crimes trials.[29]

2.2.(i).(c). CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

The Nuremberg Tribunal Charter defined Crimes against humanity as “murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population before or during the war, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds”. Since crimes against humanity could be committed “before or during the war”, and since “any civilian population” (including that of the offending state) was to be protected against such crimes, the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals tried new and very broad categories of offences. Nazi leaders like Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the Nazi Security Organization in charge of the Gestapo (the German Secret Police), were prosecuted and convicted for crimes against humanity during the Nuremberg trials.[30]

Thus, any violation of these sets of laws is a war crime; if the violations are done on purpose, recklessly or knowingly, they are considered very serious and called “grave breaches”; Nazis and Japanese following World War II were hanged for such grave breaches. Enemy soldiers and political leaders have long been punished with or without trial by the victors for heinous acts.[31]War crimes may be committed by a country’s regular armed forces, such as its army or by irregular armed forces, such as guerrillas and insurgents. Soldiers may be punished for war crimes, so also could military and political leaders, members of the judiciary, industrialists, and civilians who are enlisted by a belligerent to contravene the rules of war.[32]Military personnel in a position of authority have an obligation to instruct their subordinates on the customs and practices of war and, a duty to supervise and oversee their conduct on the battlefield. A military commander who neglects this duty can be punished for war crimes committed by his troops.

Isolated instances of terrorism and single acts of rebellion are rarely treated as war crimes punishable under the international rules of warfare. Instead they are ordinarily treated as criminal violations punishable under the domestic laws of the country in which they occur.[33]For more than five centuries the rules of war has been applied to military conflicts between countries. Until the last decade, it was thought that the rules of war do not govern hostilities between combatants in civil wars that took place wholly within the territorial boundaries of a single state. During the 1990s the United Nations established two international tribunals to investigate and prosecute war crimes that allegedly took place in the civil wars fought within Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda.[34]

Article 8(2)(c)&(e) of the Rome Statutespells out that war crimes can in fact be committed during internal armed conflicts. In 1998, Jean-Paul Akayesu, a civilian and the former Hutu Mayor of Taba in Rwanda, was convicted for genocide, torture, rape, murder, crimes against humanity and breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Akayesu was the first person ever to be convicted of genocide by an international court. The judgment also established that rape and sexual violence could be considered genocidal. The ICTR held him responsible for the deaths and rape of many people, even though the actual attacks were carried out by others.

The court held that individual criminal responsibility does not depend on a person’s status – civilians and combatants are capable of committing and being prosecuted for grave crimes and, this applies to both international and internal armed conflicts.[35]War crimes are understood in terms of those acts that are defined as “grave breaches” of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol 1 of 1977. More recently they are defined in the Statutes of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and in Article 8 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.39While the Rome Statute’s definition and explanation of what constitute war crimes appears to be the most comprehensive and all-encompassing till date.

[1] Lyon, C., Child Abuse, Jordan Publishing, Bristol (2003), p.34

[2] Hodgkin, R., Newell, P., Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF, Geneva (2002) p.475 (hereinafter called Hodgkin’s Book).

[3] Ayua, I.A., Okagbue, I.E., (eds.), The Rights of the Child in Nigeria, NIALS Series 2, Lagos (1996), p.186 (hereinafter called Ayua’s Rights of the Child). 4 Ibid, p.176

[4] Ibid, p.186 6 Ibid, p.187 7 Ibid.

[5] Hodgkin’s Book, op.cit, p.477

[6] Vesico Vaginal fistula is a condition common to young girls who give birth before their pelvic bones have fully matured. In such girls, prolonged obstructed labour gives rise to injury to the bladder, urethra and lower end of the bowel causing constant leakage of urine and sometimes vaginal excretion of faeces.

[7] Ayua’s Rights of the Child, op.cit, p.174

[8] Foley, C., Global Trade, Labour& Human Rights, Amnesty International, London (2000) p.22

[9] Lyon, C., op.cit, p.43

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid, p.15

[12] Hodgkin’s Book, op.cit, p.648

[13] Ibid, op.cit, p.535

[14] Foley,C., op.cit, p.20

[15] Ratner, S.R., Abrams, J.S., Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law: Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy, 2nd ed., Oxford ( 2001) p.80 (hereinafter called Ratner’s Accountability).

[16] Aguda , A., Okagbue, I., Principles ofCriminal Liability in Nigerian Law, Heinemann, Ibadan (1990) p.3 (hereinafter called Aguda’s Criminal Liability).

[17] Chukkol, K.S., The Law of Crimes in Nigeria, Zaria (1988) p.1

[18] Aguda’s Criminal Liability, op.cit, p.4

[19] Fatuyi, Y., “A Critical Examination of Crimes Against Humanity Under International Law”, LL.B. Thesis (Unpublished), Faculty of Law, O.A.U., Ife (2005) (hereinafter called Fatuyi’s Thesis), p.8

[20] Ratner’s Accountability, op.cit, p.80

[21] Ratner, M., “International Law & War Crimes”, The Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal, New York (24/03/’10).

[22] Ibid

[23] “War Crime”, www.wikipedia (05/02/,10).

[24] Cornish, P., “Military History Companion: War Crimes”, www.answers.com (07/02/’10).

[25] Ibid

[26] Ibid

[27] Ibid

[28] Ibid

[29] Ibid

[30] Ibid

[31] “US Military History Companion: War Crimes”, www.answers.com (15/03/’10).

[32] Ibid

[33] Ibid

[34] Ibid

[35] The Prosecutor V. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-I, Judgment (Appeals Chamber) O1/06/01, para-444 39Hurrell, A., “Political Dictionary: War Crimes”,www.answers.com (03/03/’10).